Freedom Planet: Darkside
by Mixedfan8643
Summary: With Memphis gone and Lilac's exile lifted, Lilac and friends can finally catch a well-earned break. But peace is soon shattered when they find themselves face to face with darker, evil versions of themselves from an alternate version of their world... Co-op story with author SonicChaosEmerald, author of the Sonic and Freedom Planet Tides of Chaos crossover series.
1. Prologue

By Mixedfan8643 and SonicChaosEmerald

 _Author's note: This story takes place after Life in Exile and Planet of the Serpents._

 **Prologue**

 _Planet Avalon, an alternate version of Avalice..._

War.

Like many that have taken in place in history, it can change people in the worst way possible. War could take anyone who may have started out as optimistic, happy and carefree and turn them into traumatized, cynical and depressed individuals who are forever damaged and can never be repaired. War was going to change three individuals very shortly. War was happening now.

A huge alien warship was hovering above the vast, luxurious kingdom that was Shang Tu, the city's normally sparkling blue appearance darkened by the shadow of the ship that loomed above. All the citizens in the kingdom were terrified, including the rulers of the kingdom. They all stared up, not sure whether to run and scream for help or watch and wait. The kingdom was huge, a large city surrounded by a slow moving circle of water that gave the city the impression of being an island sitting in a lake. The largest building in the city was a tall blue castle with dome-topped turrets and a large tower stretching out of the centre. There were two people in said tower now, gazing out of the window at the invading ship above their kingdom. They were a pair of hounds, both dressed in royal attire that like the kingdom they ruled, was also blue. They went by the title of Magister, the title that the ruler of Shang Tu went by. They were staring up at the ship with horror and anxiety in their eyes. It was like watching death itself for them. They both held each other's hands, as if that would somehow solve all their problems.

"I'm scared...what will that thing do to us?" the female hound whimpered.

"I don't know..." the male hound replied, shuddering in fear, "All we can do is pray that our daughter and her friends can put a stop to this menace."

"I hope our Mara's alright..." the female hound said, choking back tears as much as she could. Her husband's only reply was to softly stroke his wife's hands.

Up on the ship were four individuals that were planning to bring this ship down and save the world. Only one of them was an alien, but unlike the one who commanded the ship, he wasn't hostile. He was actually trying to stop the ship as well and had taken the three Avalicians along with him for the ride. The trio consisted of three girls, one a dragon, one a wildcat and the third a hound. They had volunteered to help him stop this menace, although the wildcat had more reluctantly done so than willingly.

The dragon had dark purple scales and long whippy tendrils that split into two half way down, giving her the impression of having four tendrils rather than two. She had a large strand of "hair" drooping over one eye and was dressed in an off-the-shoulder top with a gem in the middle, long baggy trousers and trainers.

The wildcat was dressed in a ragged black top that had a sleeve ripped off and the mid section shredded away, leaving her stomach exposed and only one sleeve covering her arm. She wore matching black trousers and black and green shoes.

The hound was the most smartly dressed of the trio, wearing a pretty pink robe that made her look like a princess. In fact, she was one. She was the daughter of the Magisters of Shang Tu and was up on the ship to fight back against this alien threat. The dragon was talking to their alien friend, a green-skinned creature who identified himself as a Chaser and called himself Tomar. Tomar was in charge of this attack and was telling the girls his plan. He had been the one to carry out the plan that involved getting on the ship and was now explaining the plan that would see the invading alien defeated.

"We're near Draven's lair." Tomar explained, "This is what we've been working our way towards. When we get there, we hit him and hit him HARD. Lavender, you and me will lead the attack. Cassandra and Mara, you back us up. Got it?"

"Crystal clear." the dragon, Lavender, responded, "Let's kick this alien's ass!"

* * *

An alien warlord, tall, dark, and menacing had his icy gaze glaring over the several monitors that were linked to his cameras scattered around his Dreadnought. A burning anger rose inside him the further the four little 'pests' had infiltrated into his ship. The fact they had even gotten onto the ship was bad enough and now they were close enough to face him. They'd soon wish they weren't.

"So..." **He angrily muttered to himself. "This is how they think they'll do it. They think this will be easy." He growled, unsheathing the acidic knife he had used to take so many lives of leaders of worlds before. "They will be in for a rude awakening..."**

* * *

Now the plan was in motion, Tomar and the Avalician girls ran ahead, charging through a corridor that would lead them to the alien's throne room. Tomar had of course explained where it would be on the ship and that their enemy would be there. The Chaser was speeding along with his jet boots while Lavender, Cassandra and Mara ran after him. Lavender was the fastest though her comrades were able to keep up with her well enough. It didn't take them long to reach the throne room. Once they'd gotten through a couple of corridors, they all arrived at what appeared to be a large door that looked more like it belonged in a medieval castle than an alien space ship due to its tall height and round top. But the door was much stronger than it would appear. It was said to be able to hold out nearly any intruder on the Dreadnought.

"Here we are," Tomar murmured, "Draven lies behind this door. Lavender, Cassandra, Mara, you do what you can to break it down."

"Absolutely sir." Mara said with a polite curtsey. Her royal nature had given her a habit of doing this nearly every time she spoke to somebody.

"Sure thing Tommy." Cassandra growled. She didn't sound very enthusiastic, as if she didn't want to be here. This wasn't some adventure for her, this was just something that wasn't worth her time.

Cassandra launched the first blows, clawing and kicking at the door as heavily as possible while Lavender ran back the way she came and stopped in front of a wall. She curled into a ball and dragon-boosted straight into the door, hitting it as hard as she could and leaving a train of sparkles behind her. As soon as she hit the door, Mara unleashed an onslaught of energy spheres that were blue in colour and the size of beach balls. The combined might of the three Avalicians was enough to make the door creak as it began loosing the battle against the intruders. It couldn't stay shut any longer and was forced open, allowing the Freedom Fighters to run inside and take down the alien inside.

They all ran in and formed a line together as they prepared for battle. Tomar stood forward while Lavender stood on his right side and Cassandra and Mara stood on his left side. Tomar had his pistol in hand and he pointed it ahead at a huge metallic chair that sat in the centre of the throne room. The room was very spacious, with very little of it occupied. The only feature was some glowing machinery and the throne itself. It gave the impression that this was a man who preferred to have a lot of room and had very little desires for what he wanted in it.

"Draven! Turn around and face me!" Tomar barked, "You've done enough damage to the universe and now it's time for you to pay for what you've done!"

 **"A bold claim Tomar...but words cannot save you from the horror I'm about to unleash..."** came a reply from behind the throne. The voice was deep and seemed to reverberate around the room.

The throne then slowly turned around, revealing the occupant that was sitting in it. The very alien who had come to Avalon, the very alien behind the invasion...Lord Draven. He was a grotesque sight for the Avalicians, a large, broad, blue-skinned alien with oversized eyebrows and cold, menacing purple eyes that almost seemed to glow in the half-darkness of the throne room. He wore dark gold armour and a black cape that hung around his shoulders. He had a knife, which seemed to be dripping some kind of viscous liquid as he held it in his hand. He had a cruel smile on his face, one that seemed to suggest that he took pleasure in the terror he was spreading below.

"What more 'horror' can be done, you freak?" Lavender spat, her tendrils twitching. "You've already destroyed and maimed countless lives with your onslaught. When will you realize that enough is enough?!"

 **"Enough?"** The figure, Draven, spoke. **"A rather bold claim coming from someone who had forcefully interfered with my plans. Multiple. Times. In one conquest."**

"Maybe you should have expected resistance before you dragged your sorry blue ass here!" Cassandra growled, her sharp claws glinting. "Now, you have any last words before I turn you into a personal scratching post?"

 **"No."** Draven merely spoke, a cruel smirk growing on his face. **"The correct phrase should be, do any of you?"**

"What the hell do you mean by tha-AAAAH!" was all that left Cassandra's mouth before she was brutally stabbed in the back by a syringe attached to a robot arm, injecting the green disgusting fluid into her body before it pulled out, the wildcat collapsing to the floor, twitching violently. She was in total agony and the amount of twitching she was doing made it look as if she was trying to claw her way out of her own body.

"Cassy!" Mara cried, rushing to check on the wildcat before Lavender glared daggers at Draven.

"What the hell did you do to her?!"

 **"I prefer to show, rather than tell,"** Draven crooned, his deep voice full of pleasure, **"So rather than tell you, I'd prefer to show you what I've done to your friend..."**

Lavender and Mara both watched their injected friend as she cried out, her face contorted with anguish. She opened her mouth to try and scream but only a bubbling sound managed to come out. A trickle of blood seeped down the corners of her lips and her eyes opened wide, so wide that they looked as if they were about to pop out of their sockets. Tomar could only watch in horror for her knew what was happening. He had seen this many times before and had hoped he wouldn't have to witness this happening to any Avalician.

"No...no..." he murmured fearfully, "Not again!"

"Not again? Tomar, what's happening to Cassandra?" Mara asked nervously.

"Get back from her!" the Chaser cried, "She's mutating!"

"Into what?!" Lavender screeched.

Their answer came in the most grisly fashion possible. Cassandra's body began to grow in size and her voice became nothing more than an animal growl that didn't sound right coming out of a cat. Her face began to change, becoming more grotesque and monstrous in appearance with her ears becoming horns and her eyes becoming red orbs in a pool of black each. Her tail grew spikes and more spikes began to grow out of her back. Several veins began to glow, the colours pulsating in time with her heartbeat.

The transformation had now finished, with Cassandra looking near unrecognizable. She was a towering behemoth of a beast with oversized fangs, spikes and a monstrous roar that seemed to make the room shudder. The wildcat had simply been transformed into a nightmare, and Lavender and Mara could only stare in disbelief at what had happened. Draven just laughed cruelly, having enjoyed every minute of the transformation.

 **"Quite the impressive feat isn't it?"** he crowed, **"I always consider it miraculous at what science can achieve."**

"You sick, sadistic bastard!" Lavender screamed, her voice sounding strained and raspy.

"I'm so sorry your friend's had to go through this girls," Tomar said sadly, "I didn't want this to happen."

"It's OK Tomar, we'll just save Cassandra!" Mara declared, "Lavender, are you with me?"

"Whatever it takes to save our friend your majesty." Lavender agreed.

'Cassandra' roared in a mix of agony and rage as she swung her massive spiked tail straight at three, with Mara ducking under it while Lavender back flipped into the air before firing off a Dragon Boost straight at the face of the gigantic creature. It roared in pain as it stumbled backwards before it regained its ground and lunged forward at Mara like it wanted to impale her on its tail, but Mara saw the attack coming and dodged, throwing one of her blue orbs at the face of the creature.

"Cassy! We know you're in there!" Mara cried. "Please! Stop!"

"She can't understand you!" Tomar answered. "Just keep it back!"

"You say that like it's simple!" Lavender retorted, throwing herself down onto the ground as the mutated wildcat swung its tail towards her.

She felt the air whip over her as the huge, spiked appendage swung past. One hit from the thing and the dragon was certain she'd be dead. She and Mara would just have to avoid Cassandra as best as they could if they were to survive. The draconian girl leapt towards Cassandra and spun around in the air in a Dragon Cyclone manoeuvre. Her whippy tendrils smacked the mutant beast in the face, making it roar in pain. It retaliated by firing some kind of energy beam from its eyes, hitting Lavender and knocking her down. The dragon winced as she hit the floor. The beams had lightly singed parts of her body, leaving burn marks on her limbs and face. She forced herself onto her feet, only to be whisked off them again as Cassandra walloped her away with a huge, clawed paw. It felt like being hit by a sledgehammer to Lavender. She came down with a heavy thud near one of the walls and she cried out as she felt something crack inside her. The attack had been enough to break one of her ribs. Thankfully, that was all that had been broken.

Lavender lay on the floor for a moment, waiting for her bones to knit together again and the pain to ease. Cassandra bared her teeth and ran towards the dragon, intent on finishing her off. She was halted from her attack by a barrage of energy spheres launching out and hitting her in the backside. She turned around just as Mara summoned an even bigger sphere and threw it into the behemoth's eyes. Cassandra howled in pain as she was hit and Mara ran forward with another sphere in her hands. She held them forward and the princess fired an energy blast from the sphere that hit Cassandra in the shoulder. To any normal Avalician, it would've felt like being punched by a gorilla. But to Cassandra, it felt more like a hard tap than anything. Growling viciously, the monster batted the princess puppy aside with her paw. Mara cried out as she was tossed aside like garbage and she hit the wall. The impact was so heavy that the royal canine was almost knocked out. She slid down to the floor, coughing loudly as she tried to get the wind back into her.

Tomar had been watching this with a mixture of horror and anxiety in his eyes. The green alien didn't know whether to help or leave them and fight Draven. Draven was the bigger priority but how could he live with himself if he just let an innocent girl kill two other innocent girls due to a mutation? He knew how to cure it of course but he was afraid of using it. The cure could sometimes be fatal and he didn't want to let Cassandra die, not on his watch. He then cried out as something big came charging at him and he only just managed to dodge. It was Draven, lunging towards him with his knife in hands. Although he missed, he still laughed as Tomar aimed his pistol at him.

 **"Once again commander...right in harm's way,"** the alien warlord crowed, **"When will you learn that sacrificing the lives of others doesn't do you any good?"**

"Sacrifice?! SACRIFICE?!" Tomar exclaimed, "You think I recruited these girls so I could sacrifice them to you?! Who the hell do you think I am?!"

 **"Someone who is out of his depth and has no chance of defeating me."** Draven retorted, **"Now while your friends kill each other, I'm content to finish off this pathetic rivalry of ours once and for all."**

He raised his knife and slashed towards Tomar, aiming for his head. The Chaser managed to dodge and opened fire on the alien world conqueror. His gun did nothing to Draven, who just took the shots as if they were pebbles being thrown at him. Smirking, he drew his arm back and aimed another slice attack at his opponent.

Meanwhile, Cassandra let out another bellowing roar as soon it fired off another set of lasers from its eyes at Lavender. The dragoness back flipped out of the way as she delivered another Dragon Boost straight at the mutant beast, only to cancel it out and deliver a vicious double tendril slash straight onto the mutant's left eye, the sickening sound of tendril slicing flesh filling the room.

The mutant roared in pain as she batted the dragoness away into a wall, the force snapping her right horn clean off her head and a trace of blood escaped her mouth as she slid down, clutching her chest in pain. She got up, looking onwards at the mutant beast as it began to approach.

"Cassandra...no!" Lavender pleaded.

Begging wouldn't save her, not in a situation like this. The Avalician-turned-monster advanced on the helpless dragon, huge strings of saliva stretching between its teeth. It looked down at Lavender with nothing but murder in its eyes. The monster began repeating a strange cycle of opening and closing with its jaws, as if preparing itself to eat the dragon alive. Lavender stared up in terror, dreading to think what her friend-turned-beast was about to do. She closed her eyes tight, not willing to see her end.

Cassandra opened her jaws and lowered her head. She would simply pick up the teen Avalician and swallow her whole. But before it could have its dinner, a barrage of energy spheres came out of nowhere and slammed into the side of the creature. It was Mara. She had recovered in time to attack Cassandra, throwing as many spheres as possible at the mutated wildcat. The spheres came out fast and furious, not giving Cassandra time to defend herself. The princess turned to Lavender, her teeth clenched.

"I've got her distracted, you try and finish her off!" Mara cried.

Lavender just merely nodded before she got back to her feet, her body tightening.

"Cassandra... I'm sorry for this..."

She slowly breathed before she tapped the chargers on the side of her head, the blue crystaline energy glowing brightly before she curled up and shot ahead in a streak of cyan. The Avalician collided head-on with the mutant as she drove her into the wall of the room, the pressure of the forceful Dragon boost starting to imprint the mutant Cassandra's body into its steel framing. Mara watched with worry in her bright, blue eyes as Lavender let it all out on Cassandra. The dragon wasn't going easy on the mutant, even if that was her best friend who had become said mutant. She just prayed that this attempt to stop her wouldn't end up killing her in the end. Draven and Tomar had also noticed what was happening and while Tomar looked worried for the wildcat-turned-monster, Draven looked almost amused by this. It didn't seem to matter that his monstrous weapon was being beaten. In fact, he didn't even seem to care.

 **Every attack they land on my beast means more damage done to their friend..."** he murmured to himself.

The Dragon-Boost attack concluded and Lavender leapt back to see what would happen next. The mutated Cassandra almost seemed to be wedged into the wall, so much so that she looked as if she couldn't even get out. But it was quickly apparent that that wasn't the case as the beaten monster slowly peeled away from the wall. It fell down heavily onto the floor, a huge imprint of itself left in the wall it had been slammed into. Lavender's attack had heavily damaged its face and head, leaving heavy scars and one of the creature's eyes seemed to be dead. It had gone a murky grey colour which left it not matching the black and red of the other eye. Also, the creature was bleeding. Sickly green blood was dripping from the monster's wounds. And because of that, Cassandra began to turn back to normal. The mutagen was in her blood and now she was loosing it, she couldn't maintain the mutant form anymore.

The spikes on her back and tail retracted away, her good eye changed back to its normal colours, her size began to shrink back to normal, her horns became ears again, her veins stopped glowing and her face began to morph back to how it looked before. Lavender and Mara watched as their friend was returned to her normal self. But they couldn't be happy about it. As Cassandra was restored to normal, they could see she was anything but OK. She still had the scars and dead eye and she was still bleeding from her wounds. She looked very weak and could barely even stand. The feline girl also seemed to shiver, as if the room had suddenly gotten very cold. She looked up feebly at her friends, fear etched across her face.

"L-L-Lavender...? I-I-I c-c-can't s-see...th-through my l-l-left eye..." Cassandra whimpered, "W-w-what h-h-happened t-t-to me? I f-f-feel c-c-cold...s-s-so c-cold..."

"Cass!" Lavender cried, running to her friend and kneeling beside her, "Cass, d-d-don't panic, whatever you do. Y-y-you're going to be fine. I promise you, you're going to be fine!"

She was struggling to keep back the tears as she tried to comfort her crippled best friend by stroking her hands. Mara was watching too and the tears began to stream down her face. She didn't even try to keep them in. Tomar looked totally defeated, closing his eyes and shaking his head in sorrow. He hadn't wanted any of this to happen. He shouldn't have ever brought the girls in on this! Draven took all this in with sadistic pleasure, relishing every moment of their torment.

 **"I always warned you commander...this is why you should never bring children to do a Chaser's job."** he crowed.

Lavender's frame started shaking, trying to hold back the tears inside her eyes, a mix of sorrow and anger building up further inside her. Slowly she got to her feet, before she turned and looked at Draven, her eyes filled with rage...

"You BASTARD!" Lavender screeched, firing off ahead in a massive Dragon Boost.

"Lavender no!" Mara cried.

The princess was far too late to do anything now. The draconian teenager had taken off and was now hurling towards Draven at the speed of an arrow. She had launched her attack so quickly that the alien warlord barely even had time to register the fact something was coming towards him before he was hit squarely in the torso by the Dragon-Boost. He was sent hurling backwards, but surprisingly enough, he was still standing. He merely skidded backwards and while his face betrayed any signs the attack might not have hurt him, he barely even lost his composure. He just straightened up and rubbed his stomach lightly. Lavender stood before him, unable to believe that her attack had barely even fazed him.

 **"Was that really your best shot?"** the sadistic world-conquerer sneered, **"Even the Chaser's best efforts barely slowed me down, and they managed to do more damage to me than that one attack of yours."**

"Maybe this'll knock you down a peg!" Mara declared hotly.

She scampered on all fours and threw herself at the alien, baring her teeth like a wolf on the hunt. She landed on his head and began viciously clawing and biting at Draven, attacking him so savagely that it looked like she was trying to tear his entire face off. Draven cried out, momentarily blind as this bundle of fury unleashed all hell on him. But eventually, he managed to grab hold of Mara and yank her away. He slammed the dog onto the floor as hard as he could, knocking the wind out of her and making her splutter. Still defiant, the princess held out one hand and fired some energy spheres at Draven's face. He already had a multitude of bleeding scratches and teeth marks all over him so getting hit in the face by energy spheres ended up hurting more than it would've done. Draven roared and shielded his face with one arm while he lashed out with his other. He seized Mara by the wrist and hoisted her off the floor. The dog squealed and squirmed, trying to get free. Lavender ran towards the alien with murder in her eyes.

"Put her down you monster!" she screamed.

Smirking, Draven just spun on the spot and roundhouse kicked Lavender in the face, throwing her aside and onto the floor. Mara was still squirming, trying to get out of the alien's grip but his hand was like a steel vice around her wrist. She couldn't break free. Smiling demonically, Draven drew out his knife and proceeded to slice across Mara's arm with it. He severed it clean off, leaving her with just a stump below the shoulder. The puppy howled in anguish, dropping to the floor and clutching her bleeding stump as the horror of losing her limb set in. She was in shock and completely hysterical, both screaming crying from the attack. The dog's howls were like a stab in the heart to Lavender and she couldn't help but scream for her friend. She was only a child, not even a teenager yet! How could this sick, sadistic beast do this to Mara?! Draven just tossed aside the severed arm and held his knife up, the blade glinting in the light.

 **"You don't look so good now little one. Perhaps I should put you out of your misery?"** he purred, his voice completely void of any sympathy for his opponent.

Tomar, who had almost seemed irrelevant to the situation at the current time, had finally taken action. With a quick flick of his wrist, he fired an energy shot straight at Draven's hand, knocking the knife away from the warlord and embedding itself into the wall.

"Your damage has gone far enough," Tomar growled. "Now stand down or I will _not_ hesitate to use lethal force!"

 **"Your petty threats were always the downfall of the Coalition,"** Draven would remark, drawing his own gun. **"I don't know if you've noticed because of the lack of brain cells you possess, but you have no authority over me."**

"I'm a member of the Chasers, part of the Coalition of Planets! I hold authority over everybody!" Tomar declared.

He and Draven then proceeded to shoot at each other, both aliens weaving around to dodge each other and fire. The room was quickly filled with flying laser blasts in every direction, most of them missing with only a few actually hitting their targets. Lavender ran over to Mara and threw herself over the puppy to shield her from any flying laser blasts. She could now see the pain on the princess's face and just how horrible her severed arm looked up close. Mara was still clutching her stump, her remaining hand drenched in blood.

"L-L-Lavender...I c-c-can't f-f-feel m-m-my arm...h-h-h-he c-c-cut off m-m-m-my arm!" she whimpered.

The dragon could only stare sadly at her young friend. She had been the first person to ever take pity on her and Cassandra and had let them be her friends. It made her chest ache to see what had become of such a kind-hearted canine like Mara. Nobody as innocent as her should have to go through this! Would Mara ever recover from such a horrible event? She was distracted from her thoughts as a laser blast came hurtling towards her and Mara. Lavender scooped up the dog and leapt away, leaving the laser blast to hit the floor.

Tomar and Draven were so far still at a stalemate. They couldn't really gain an advantage over one another with their constant shooting. Draven managed to get one lucky shot on Tomar's shoulder but the Chaser had retaliated with a shot to the thigh on the alien warlord. Grunting, the world-conqueror decided it was time for a change of tactics. He reached into his cape and pulled out some mines. He tossed them to his rival, forcing Tomar to jump back and dodge. But Tomar had timed his jump a fraction too late. While he was airborne, the mines were still sliding towards him. And one of them just happened to stop directly underneath him. He landed straight on top of it.

The Chaser didn't even have time to cry out as the mine detonated. He was vaporized, torn apart atom by atom as the blast consumed him whole. Lavender heard the explosion and turned around to see what was happening. All she saw was a charred corpse of what had once been a living alien, its legs completely gone along with every piece of its body underneath the chest. One arm had broken away, the other still attached. The head looked unrecognizable. Tomar was dead, that much was certain. There was only Lavender left to take on Draven. The dragon let out a scream of horror upon the sight of Tomar's dead body. All this horror, all this pain, all this anguish, it was all getting too much for her. She couldn't take it anymore!

Draven just laughed, clearly pleased to have finally disposed of his sworn enemy at last.

 **"You lasted longer than any other enemy of mine Tomar...but even you couldn't live to defeat me."** he gloated.

That had done it. Something had snapped within the dragon's mind; one shred of mental twine that held her together had finally snapped. Lavender's head snapped towards Draven, her pupils now slits, an enraged almost insane look in her eyes as her left one started twitching, her breathing becoming loud and hard.

"Y-you think this is all a game to you, don't you?!" Lavender yelled, her voice cracking a bit. "You think it's just fun to go around killing people and ruining their lives?!"

Mara shrunk and shuddered. She was scared of seeing her friend like this. She was almost afraid to watch and see what happened next.

 **"And just what do you think you're going to do?"**

"Me?!" Lavender yelled, the twitch in her eye becoming more unstable before she yelled again. "I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU, YOU SICK BASTARD!"

What happened next would change everything. Not just for Lavender. Not just for Cassandra and Mara. But for everybody. Avalon was going to change forever and it all came down to this one single act from the enraged dragon.

Boosting towards Draven, Lavender let out a blood-curdling screech of rage and hurled towards the demonic warlord. The scream sounded more like some animal cry of hatred more than an actual scream. Lavender was completely taken over, no longer in control of her own body. Rage was driving her on, blind, furious and completely unstoppable. She slammed straight into Draven, but unlike before, this slam seemed to actually hurt him. The extra-terrestrial invader let out a surprised yell as he was taken off his feet and slammed into the wall. He was so surprised by this that he wasn't even sure if he'd been hit. As he slammed into the wall, Lavender began to cut loose on him, unleashing all hell as her fists and feet began flying out in several blurs, striking him here and there with such ferocity that Draven began to doubt if he was even fighting the same dragon anymore.

He couldn't even fight back for Lavender was moving too fast and hitting him too hard. His brain couldn't even find the time to tell his arms to move. Then Lavender backhanded the alien, knocking him down onto his side and while he was down, the enraged Avalician scooped up his knife. He'd dropped it after being slammed into the wall. Screaming viciously, Lavender stabbed the alien just below his neck with the knife. Draven tried to cry out in pain but he couldn't. He could barely even so much as gasp. The knife had penetrated him and he was now finding it hard to breathe. Blood poured out of the wound and some of it began to bubble out of his mouth. Lavender shoved the knife in as far as it would go, leaving only the handle sticking out, and then she grabbed his head. With Draven barely able to stay conscious, or even alive, he couldn't fight back as Lavender began to yank on his head.

She pulled several times, straining with each pull, but she refused to give it up. She kept pulling, giving the head sharp yanks each time. Mara watched with horror and disgust as her friend was trying to seemingly pull the alien's entire head off.

"Lavender, stop!" she begged.

There was no stopping the purple dragon now. She was deaf to any pleas. Only her own rage was what she could hear. With one final yank, Lavender screamed as she pulled Draven's head upwards... _and procceeded to tear it clean off his shoulders!_ The sickening sound of bones snapping and flesh tearing made Mara throw up. The sight had been too gruesome for her to bear. The earlier stab with the knife had given her some leeway and had allowed her to rip the head off. Blood oozed out of the stump that was left of Draven's neck. The head itself was dripping blood too. Lavender panted heavily, not moving for a few minutes before finally throwing the head down onto the floor. It was done. Draven had been defeated. Avalon was safe...but had it been worth it?

She dragged herself away from Draven's corpse and staggered over to Mara. She no longer felt angry or sad. Just tired. She slumped down on the floor beside the dog. Cassandra was lying nearby. She had mercifully slipped into unconsciousness so she hadn't seen what had happened. Lavender panted softly, allowing her body to simmer down and relax.

"I...did it...I...did it..." she breathed, her voice incredibly hoarse, "The...sick...little fuck...is dead..."

Mara was shuddering uncontrollably, the poor little girl scarred by what she ha just seen.

"L-L-Lavender..." she barely managed to croak out between her shudders before she tried to scoot away, now afraid of the dragoness.

"Pl-please, d-d-don't hurt me..." she choked out before she burst into tears, hiding her face with her only arm.

The dragoness looked a little pained to see that Mara looked scared of her. Deep down, she knew that she had maybe gone too far. But she was too satisfied with what she'd done to care. It didn't matter, Draven was dead. She wasn't at all sorry for what she'd done.

"I'm not gonna hurt you Mara." Lavender said softly, "I did this for you...for Cass...and for Tomar."

She glanced over at the unconscious cat and the charred remains of the Chaser as she said this.

"Avalon is safe now...we did it." the draconian girl replied.

"But...you killed him." Mara acknowledged, "And really gruesomely! How can you live with yourself for doing something so horrible?!"

"Horrible?! The shithead cut your fucking arm off, turned Cass into a monster and blew up Tomar!" Lavender retorted, angered at the dog's words, "And you're daring to criticize me for giving that bastard what he deserves?!"

She raised her arm in temper, looking as if she was going to smack the poor puppy. Mara squealed in fright and covered her eyes with her remaining arm. She whimpered as she braced herself for the smack that was going to come...or so she thought. Instead, the dragon seemed to restrain herself and lower her arm. She let out a heavy sigh as exhaustion caught up to her once again.

"I was perhaps a little too monstrous...but it goes to show that mercy doesn't always get you anywhere." Lavender muttered, "Draven showed no mercy to us and we all nearly died. Tomar DID die! And Avalon would've been conquered. And to think all of this shit could've been avoided if our world wasn't so weak and pathetic! We could barely fight against this ship with what we had and we were so ill-prepared that we were just lucky that we managed to save the world when we could!"

Her eyes narrowed, although only one could be seen as her hair was still hanging over her right eye.

"Avalon is weak, we're weak, and it's about time that somebody did something about it..." Lavender declared.

Once she and her friends departed from the ship, Avalon was going to be a very different world. And it would start with Lavender as she made her first move...

* * *

 _ **Things don't look good for this alternate version of Avalice. But what about the prime Avalice?**_

 _ **Tune in next time to see how things have been going on there with Lilac and friends!**_

 _ **Special thanks to SonicChaosEmerald for joining me to write this fic. :)**_


	2. Chapter 1: Catching a Break

_Chapter 1: Catching A Break_

 _Avalice Prime, now..._

To say that Lilac the Dragon Girl of Avalice had had it rough wasn't much of an exaggeration. The past three weeks had been among some of the most eventful, stressful and emotionally tiring weeks for the dragon and her friends. After they'd last met the alien Chaser named Torque, they had been granting him goodbye as he was taken back to the Coalition of Planets to be healed. He had been brutally injured by Lord Brevon in battle although thankfully, Brevon had been the one to get the worst of it for Lilac had eventually managed to kill him. It hadn't done much though for after the Dark Stone's effects had turned Lilac into a monster of a dragon that went on a rampage, her reputation had been shattered and people had become afraid of her.

It was made even worse when Lilac's wicked uncle, Memphis the Fire Dragon, had initiated a complex but brilliant stratagem that had led to the teen being exiled from the three kingdoms of Avalice after appearing to turn traitor. Lilac had been isolated from her friends and had begun to lose faith in her people, wondering if it had even been worth saving their lives over and over. But thanks to the most fortunate coincidence ever, she had come across Carol's exiled grandfather, Clifford the Old Sage, and not only made a new friend in him, but had been alerted of her uncle's actions. Thus she had returned and started a crusade that had eventually led to Memphis's demise. The Red Scarves had also perished in the war Memphis had unleashed, including Spade who had seemingly committed suicide though Lilac often doubted if it was suicide or just losing his grip.

Her exile had been overturned yesterday and Lilac had been given a welcome home part to celebrate. The party had just concluded and Torque had landed on Avalice once again. The dragon had been ecstatic, throwing herself into his arms and kissing him delightedly as if she hadn't seen him in years. Torque's friend, Terra, had come too and was touched by the scene before her. How good it was to see Torque had somebody who clearly loved him so.

"The High Officer certainly made more people happy than just Torque with his decision to let us set up base here." Terra said to herself.

Torque seemed to be sharing that thought as he and Lilac separated lips and he chuckled.

"I take it you missed me again huh?" he said casually.

"Of course I missed you!" Lilac exclaimed, "I love you Torque and I was really hoping that I'd see you again! I'm really glad you're here!"

"Thank you Lilac, that's very kind of you to say." Torque said graciously, "So how's it been since I left?"

"Believe me, I've got a VEEEEEEEERY long story to tell..." the dragon replied.

So the reptilian heroine had spent the next few minutes recapping the last three weeks to Torque. The Chaser had listened intently with utter amazement. He had found it incredulous to think that all of this could've happened in the past three weeks. And he thought HE had had a busy time! He and Terra had both been horrified to hear about the exile and what Memphis had done and how he'd managed to take over Shang Mu.

"Oh my gosh...Lilac, that sounds terrible!" Torque cried.

"What the hell did you do to deserve all of this?!" Terra concurred, "You sound like you went through quite a lot since we last saw ya! Are you OK? Are you damaged in anyway by all that?"

"I've still managed to keep my sanity somehow." Lilac muttered, "I really can't believe it honestly. I thought I'd go insane after I was exiled! But I'm OK, don't worry about me. Me and my friends just had an awesome party to celebrate my return from exile." she added, beaming delightedly.

Torque smiled at that last statement. "Aw, if only we had been there to help celebrate with you!"

"Yeah..." Lilac signed, before a lightbub in her head came on.

"Say... what DID happen that took you a while to come back?" she asked inquisitively.

"Well..." Terra spoke. "In short and blunt? Hell. Torque would you care to explain?"

"We might as well." Torque answered. "We've got a while before we really need to set up our permanent base here, so let's go ahead."

Terra nodded.

"Alright." She spoke. "So here's what happened..."

And so began the tale of what all had happened during when Lilac was in exile for the past several weeks as Torque explained about the attack at HQ and the unsuccessful retrieval mission on the planet Vipos, and she cringed at the descriptions of what had happened on Vipos to the fights that had happened.

"Ancestors above..." Lilac breathed. "And I thought we had it rough down here..."

Torque nodded. "Much to our regret, the blasted snakes got away. Serpentine and his parents could be anywhere by now, though we can sleep happily knowing their army is considerably smaller thanks to the good Viperians helping us defeat them."

Terra nodded. "We're unsure of how far they could have gotten however." she spoke. "They got away in a shuttle and took off so they could be heading anywhere at this point."

"Either they're looking for a new planet to hide on or they're possibly hiding on a nearby moon or the like before they return." Torque spoke. "Thankfully I would hope the High Officer has sent out reinforcements in order to help keep the situation locked down so those of the liberated can rebuild their society from the ground up without having to worry about the oppression of a power-mad leader."

"Yeah..." Lilac breathed, taking all of this in, "Well... I'm glad you guys are finally back."

"Same here Lilac." Torque spoke. "How have the others been doing?"

The dragon responded with a grim face that told Torque the answer wasn't necessarily a good one.

"My exile was hard on them all." she explained, "Carol took it the hardest. Natalya and the Bassets told me she was wasting away due to lack of food. She was too depressed to eat. And Natalya took it hard too since I'm all that's left of my mother for her and she sorta lost me."

"Speaking of her, what became of that woman after she joined us to stop Lord Bread-Bin?" Terra asked in confusion.

"She's changed...A LOT in fact!" Lilac cried, "She actually opened up and told me her past and to my surprise, she revealed she was my mom's best friend!"

The two Chasers stared in disbelief at their draconian friend. It seemed that no matter how many times they came to Avalice, there was always something amazing to find out.

"So your mom was Natalya's best buddy?" Terra murmured, "Please don't tell me that means your mom was a bad guy!"

"No, no, nothing like that!" Lilac chuckled half-heartedly, "Natalya wasn't always evil. It was my mom's death that pushed her over the edge apparently. And now she's trying to make up for her past crimes by honouring my mom's passing. She even ADOPTED me so she could be my new mom in a way!"

Torque was so surprised that he almost stumbled backwards onto the rocket's boarding ramp.

"So Natalya's your mother now?"

"Foster mother at most. But I don't have to call her mom."

Torque smiled humorously. He couldn't really imagine Lilac calling the former crime boss "mom" anyway.

"So I can easily see where your exile effected her so badly." the Chaser commander said slowly, "It must've been like losing her own daughter just like how for Carol and Milla, they lost their best friend."

"Quite." Lilac said simply. There was nothing else to say that could sum it up as well as that one word.

"I bet they were thrilled when your exile was overturned." Terra said happily.

"Oh you should've seen everybody's faces!" the teen heroine giggled, "All of us ran out of tears to shed after we had a huge hug-fest with each other!"

Torque and Terra smiled in awe. They did indeed start wishing they could've witnessed what sounded like such a happy scene. They would've needed something as heart-warming and pleasant as this to make up for some of the dark events they'd been going through lately.

"But enough about me, what are you two doing here?" Lilac asked. She felt it was about time to address the elephant in the room. Surely the Chasers hadn't come here just to say hi?

"Well, it's not just a mere saying hi and leaving." Terra spoke. "Thanks to permission from the High Officer, we have full access to have a base set up here on the planet! Though, I'm pretty sure it's more because of Torquey's feeling's for this planet, or you in specific."

"Terra!" Torque interjected, blushing.

"What?" she shrugged, "I'm just telling it how it is."

Lilac's eyes widened in amazement. She even wondered if what she'd heard hadn't just been a figment of her imagination.

"Your leader gave you permission to set up a permeant base here?" the dragon gasped.

"Exactly. So we'll be seeing each other a lot more and I'll be able to stay here as long as necessary." Torque replied, "I had hoped the High Officer would like the idea when I suggested it to him and to me delight, he gave me the all go to do such a thing. Though I honestly think it's because he knows Brevon's forces would target the planet a lot and thus having Chaser stationed there permanently would mean more protection for Avalice."

This kind of news was what Lilac had been hoping to hear. It now meant that she and Torque could be together at last and they wouldn't have to keep saying goodbye! As if overturning her exile hadn't been enough, the man she had fallen for was now able to see her much more often than before! Lilac could practically feel the excitement welling up in her as if she was about to burst.

"OHMIGOSH! That's incredible!" Lilac squealed excitedly, "This news just made this already awesome day even better! Oh Torque, I couldn't be happier to hear this!"

"Hey Little Miss Heropants! What's with all the screaming?" came a familiar voice from up in the treehouse, "I didn't think ya missed Torque THAT much!"

Lilac turned around with a deadpan smirk on her face, knowing exactly who had said that.

"Maybe if you decided to come down and see what's happening Carol, you'd know wouldn't you?" she retorted, "Come down everybody! I'm sure Torque and Terra would love to see you all again!"

"Right then, be down in a second!" Carol's voice yelled from up above, "C'mon everyone, Torque's back!"

"Torque's back?!" came an immensely sweet voice that belonged to a particular hound, "I wanna see! I wanna see!"

"Well c'mon then!" Carol said, descending from the ladder... before the familiar young basset fell on top of her as the two landed in a pile at the base of the tree. Lilac just giggled. She expected this from little Milla after all.

"Jeez..." Carol coughed, "A little excited are ya Ruff Stuff?" she said as Miguel, Lela, Natalya and Clifford also came down the ladder.

"Sorry, I just can't control my excitement sometimes!" Milla piped.

Now everybody had come down from the treehouse, they all gathered around Lilac so they could greet their extra-terrestrial visitors. To Carol and Milla, it was like seeing an old friend again. Miguel and Lela only really knew Torque as the friend of their daughter's but were nonetheless pleased to see him. They might even get a chance to know him better this time around. Natalya looked uncertain, as if still unsure on how she'd be judged. Last time they'd met, she'd teamed up with Brevon to use the Dark Stone on Lilac and that had led to the big showdown with Lilac and Brevon as a dragon. Would they still be mad at her for that?

Clifford seemed to recognize Torque. His eyes narrowed and a small smile crept across his face as it dawned on him who it was.

"The other-worldly man who joined the girls in saving the world..." he said to himself, "This is quite a surprise."

"Hey Torque! How's it going? And ya brought Terra with ya too! Even better!" Carol exclaimed, bouncing up and down, "I'd been hoping to see you again!"

"Likewise." Terra replied, the two girls fist-bumping each other, "Great to see you again Carol."

"So what did everybody think when you showed them Brevon's body?" Milla asked curiously, "Were they amazed?"

"Very." Torque said simply, "They have many thanks to Lilac for finally putting an end to him and ridding the galaxy of one of its biggest threats. The Coalition of Planets is forever in this world's debt."

Lilac smiled modestly.

"I was only doing what was right, even if I wasn't happy I had to kill him." the dragon said casually, "I dunno what to think about getting such praise..."

"Maybe a simple "Thanks" will do?" Carol snickered.

"Carol!" Lilac looked over at the wildcat, punching her in the shoulder.

"What?" she replied, a mock innocent smile on her face, ignoring the pain in her arm, "I'm just sayin'!"

"Either way," Lela would speak to Torque. "Is there anything we can get you to help have your stay be as comfortable as possible?"

"That's very kind of you to offer but we'll be OK thanks." Torque said casually, "All we've gotta do really is begin setting up base and we're good to go."

"You're setting up base?" Carol asked, "Why is that? You stayin' longer than usual or something?"

"He's setting up a PERMANENT base!" Lilac cried, stressing out the word "permanent" to emphasise her point, "His leader's granted him clearance to do so so he can stay as long as he wants now!"

"Yippee! That's wonderful!" Milla exclaimed, jumping up and down and waving her ears about in excitement.

"Especially since Little Miss Heropants gets to spend more time with her boyfriend." Carol snickered teasingly, nudging Lilac in the ribs playfully.

The dragon shoved her back in return, smirking playfully. She'd never admit it but she had greatly missed Carol's teasing when she had been in exile. It felt good to have it again.

"I'm just glad the High Officer doesn't suspect anything as he doesn't approve of any Chasers showing affection to others." Torque said grimly, "If he ever calls me, we have to keep this between us, OK Lilac?"

"Of course." Lilac said kindly, "I wouldn't want you to get in trouble or anything. That'd be terrible of me! And I get my friends in trouble enough as it is..." she added, thinking back to Brevon's first attack on the planet.

"As I like to say, what the High Officer doesn't know won't hurt him." Terra said casually, "Anyway, I noticed there's another cat with you." she noted, glancing over at Clifford, "Who's he? Is he related to you or something Carol?"

"He is indeed." Carol replied, "Torque, Terra, this is my grandpa, Clifford the Old Sage! He's an amazing wizard and can do some amazing magic tricks! I'd love for you two to get to know him, you'll like him!"

The old sage nodded agreeably. "

Indeed, my granddaughter." he said, before looking to Torque and Terra, "Pleasure to make your acquaintance." he added, bowing.

"Same here." Terra said, shaking his hand. "Hopefully Torquey and I will get to know you a bit better."

"Terra..." Torque sighed. "Are you ever going to get tired of calling me that?"

"Nope!"

"Point taken..."

"So you're Carol's grandfather?" Torque said with polite interest, "It's funny, she never mentioned you when I first came to the planet."

"I imagine bringing me up would've been too depressing for her at the time." Clifford said sadly, "I was exiled myself due to fears over magic and concerns over me possibly being evil."

"It was hard on me. I really missed him when he had to go." Carol said glumly, "I joined the Scarves shortly after he was exiled since I had nobody else to go to. I'm really glad to have him back!" she added, beaming.

"And I'm glad to have you back dearest." Clifford replied, putting an arm around his grandchild.

"During your exile, did you become aware of the events of Brevon's first invasion at all?" Torque wondered curiously. He wasn't asking for any reason in particular, it just occurred to him and he was interested to find out.

"I watched the whole thing." Clifford said, holding out his staff, "There was a large lake where I had been exiled and I used it to keep an eye on the world and my granddaughter. I saw Brevon's attack and the heroine trio banding together to fight against the alien invader. I even saw you leading the charge."

Torque pursed his lips, intrigued to hear this. So in a way, Clifford had already known him without ever having to meet him. If this cat had the power to watch things through water then who knew what else he could do.

"Pity you weren't there at the time." Terra snickered, "I'd love to see you turn Lord Unibrows into a rabbit or something!"

"Yeah, I don't have that kind of magic..." the old sage said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"But he did use his magic to help us stop Memphis at least." Carol said, winking.

"Speaking of him..." Lilac cut in, "When you two last met Natalya, you weren't on good terms. But since she's turned good, you can get properly acquainted! Care to say hi Natalya?"

The former crime boss stepped forward shyly, looking a little unsure if she should be doing this or not. Torque and Terra could see it in her eyes that she was nervous and if they were to be terse with her, it wouldn't be fair. They both knew that they had to give her a chance and let bygones be bygones. After all, she had joined them in stopping Brevon, that was enough for them.

"You don't have to worry Natalya." Torque said softly, "Lilac told us you've changed. We won't be hard on you."

Natalya nervously nodded. "Very well..." She sighed, stepping forward a bit. "It is very well to see you two back once again... this time for a permanent stay."

Terra nodded. "And it's very well to see you again, this time on better terms than our last meeting."

"Please don't remind me..." Natalya sighed, looking down a bit, "I would be all too happy to force that memory out of my head."

"I don't blame you." Terra said sympathetically, "A lot of people who join Brevon for any reason end up wishing they could forget about it. So Lilac tells us you adopted her right?" she asked, wanting to change the subject to see if she could make Natalya feel more comfortable, "What pushed you to make that decision then?"

Natalya smiled softly, clearly pleased to have that weight off her shoulders and talk about something she was happy to talk about.

"To be honest, it was Brevon pointing out how futile my goal was." the dragoness admitted, "I had no purpose in life after that so when I allowed myself to be arrested, it gave me plenty of time to think about what I could do with my life now. And the answer came to me eventually. Thinking about my life with my late friend, Dawn, it inspired me to restart my life. No longer am I a crime boss leading the Red Scarves, but the mother of Lilac the Dragon Girl, the daughter of my best friend. I was so happy she accepted my offer." she added, feeling her heart swell with pride.

"Lilac is a nice girl after all." Torque said casually, "I still find it surprising that you and her mother were best buddies though. That was something I couldn't have imagined."

"Ditto." Lilac put in, "I had to make sure she wasn't kidding me when she told me! But I'm glad it's the truth. Now me and Natalya are together, it's like I have a piece of my mom back with me." the teen-heroine said with a heartfelt smile.

"Indeed." Natalya spoke, "And I am pleased I have been able to restore my trust in Lilac."

"Well, it seems things have turned out here for the better." Torque spoke, "At least this hopefully means there won't be any chaos anytime soon."

"Well let's hope you didn't just jinx it." Terra spoke.

"I doubt I've jinxed it Terra." Torque said.

"I'm holding you to your word on that." Terra responded, "If things do get jinxed, you owe me something."

"And what exactly is that?" Torque retorted.

"A lengthy apology for jinxing it and a "You were right and I was wrong" statement!" Terra teased, nudging her friend.

Torque just smirked in response while the Avalicians giggled.

"Well, now we've all met and gret, me and Terra can start setting up our base." Torque said, clearing his throat, "Has anybody got any idea on where we can start?"

"Well Dragon Valley has a lot of trees we can cut down for wood." Lilac suggested helpfully, "Or we can stop by Zao's Shopping Paradise for any metal if you want metal. We'll also need tools so we can get some there too."

"Don't you have tools already?" Terra asked in confusion.

"Tools to make a treehouse, but not anything that advanced." Carol said sheepishly, "And I doubt you guys want a treehouse right?"

"It wouldn't be a secure base for us so no." Torque admitted, "We could see what Zao has for sale maybe. You sure you're OK with seeing him so soon after your exile was overturned Lilac? You did tell us that he was the first one to start doubting you." the Chaser said uncertainly.

"I'll admit I haven't fully forgiven him yet." the teen-dragon said grimly, "But we don't necessarily have to see him on this trip. We can just go to his mall and go straight back home again."

"Then what are we waiting for?! Let's go!" Carol cried excitedly, "Our friends have a base ta build!"

"Hang on, couldn't Clifford just magic them a base or something?" Natalya asked curiously.

"Sorry my dear but I don't have that kind of magic." Clifford said meekly, "I can't just create buildings or new places on a whim. That's beyond my realm of capabilities."

Natalya nodded understandingly. Even wizards had their limits and magic couldn't solve everything. Even with magic, there were times where you still had to do things yourself.

"Well, I'm ready for a road trip!" Carol said. "Let me just get my bike revved up and then we can be at Shang Mu lickety split!"

"Man, you're awfully anxious today." Lilac said to herself as Carol ran to get her bike. "Hmmm..."

"Something wrong Lilac?" Milla asked.

"Nah, nothing." Lilac said. "I'm just thinking... It might be high time we could start making renovations to the treehouse and expanding out a bit. Make it feel a bit more 'homely' I guess you could say. Anyone else in agreement?"

"Well with many of us occupying it right now, expanding it wouldn't be that bad an idea." Miguel admitted, "We can get some materials to expand the treehouse as well as whatever Torque and Terra need for their base too."

"I think that's a splendid idea Miguel." Lela agreed.

"Then we'll do that as well." Lilac said brightly, "Let's go everybody!"

The Avalicians and their alien visitors prepared to set off, ready for their big shopping trip in Shang Mu. They would be walking home with a lot of materials and after that, a lot of construction work was going to begin. Lilac couldn't help but wonder how everybody would react when they all arrived at the red-coloured city and if Mayor Zao would have anything to say should they meet. Whatever her feelings on the matter, Lilac would do her best to be polite. Zao had apologized for ever doubting her so she couldn't be cruel to him.

The sound of an engine revving came out from behind the treehouse as Carol rode onto the scene with her motorbike. She was rearing and ready to go just like everybody else was. With nothing left to say or do, the group of friends all set off to Shang Mu. Their day was set to be a simple shopping trip. But neither one knew that it was about to become more than just a shopping trip...

* * *

 _ **Things are going nicely it seems. Just what our friends need after going through so much lately. ^^**_

 _ **But this peace won't last forever. We return to Avalon next time as we see what's become of that world after Draven's death...**_


	3. Chapter 2: No Freedom On This Planet

**Chapter 2: No Freedom On This Planet**

Avalon, once a peaceful and prosperous world beloved by its residents. Once a proud planet rich with history and full of life everywhere you went. A few years ago, any multiverse traveler would've had no trouble at all identifying this world as an alternate version of Avalice. It had the same beauty and majesty that that planet contained.

That was only a year ago. As of now, the world was nothing like what it had once been.

Only a year had passed since Draven's invasion and yet it felt like so much had changed in only that amount of time. Avalon was no longer the kind of world that it had been twelve months ago. In fact, for some of the people of Avalon...it no longer felt recognizable to them. It was as if they had been taken from their planet and placed on another one.

It had all started with the aftermath of Draven's attack. Lavender had seen first hand the damage that had been caused by Draven's invasion. Many of the villages outside of the Kingdom of Shang Tu had been reduced to rubble and debris, with not a single building left standing, and Shang Tu itself had been heavily damaged by Draven's ship. While she and the others had been fighting the alien warlord onboard the Dreadnought, it hadn't occurred to them that he had been firing the ship's guns at the kingdom below. The palace itself had been stricken, and much to the horror and shock of Princess Mara, her parents had perished in the attack. They had been crushed to death by the falling debris when the laser had hit.

Once Draven had been killed, Lavender had left the ship with Cassandra and Mara draped over her shoulders and had let the guards keep the ship to do with what they pleased. The ship had quickly been taken apart for it was a cruel reminder of the terror Avalon had received and nobody wished to see it again. Any technology the ship possessed had been seized by the kingdom's top scientists and and was being studied for any possible use that could benefit the planet. At least it would be one way to make up for Draven's atrocities, to put his technology to better use.

After seeing what had been done, Lavender had vowed Avalon would never be a victim of such a terrible attack again. Unfortunately for the world, she had meant it in the worst way possible. While Cassandra and Mara had been recovering in hospital, Lavender had walked up the destroyed palace of Shang Tu and declared herself the new Magister of the Kingdom. Of course, the guards had objected since the dragon was not of royalty and thus, was in no position to claim leadership.

"The Magisters are dead with only the princess still living, therefore the title of Magister passes down to Princess Mara." one of them had insisted, "She is our new Magister."

"Open your eyes dumbass." Lavender had snapped, "Mara's just a kid. She can't rule a kingdom at her age. She needs somebody strong and powerful to rule, like me for instance!"

"Do you have any political experience?"

"Why does it matter to you? I'm going to be the new Magister so you better get out of my way and allow me entry to my new palace!"

The guards had refused to move, insisting that only Mara was in any position to order them about. Lavender had responded by snapping one of the guard's necks. Afraid for their own lives, the other guards had sworn fealty to the dragon girl and had declared her their new Magister in a public ceremony that had attracted a lot of praise. To the people, this was the girl who had saved their world by killing the invader so they were happy to have her in charge. But then things went worse as Lavender's rule began.

She had started appointing new laws that made the kingdom seem less like a pleasurable place to live and more like a dictatorship. The law stated that all Avalonians had be strong, intelligent and pure and anybody who didn't match all three criteria was sent into a cruel exile that often lead to their deaths via starvation, exhaustion or being ripped apart by a predator in the outside world. The new Magister wanted Shang Tu to be a stronger kingdom than ever before so it would never deal with such a blow like what Draven had dealt them so she didn't want anybody who was weak, dumb or impure to populate the city.

Another new law stated that all Avalonians had to be able to fight, hence everybody in the kingdom was put through the most grueling and crippling of exercises in order to shape themselves up for warfare. You were not allowed to object, you couldn't quit the training exercises, you had to be ready on the dot and not a second later and total cowardice and uncooperative behaviour resulted in extreme punishment. Lavender had set an example by throwing a teenage bear from the palace balcony and onto the ground from the great height after he'd dared to complain about the sheer stress of the constant exercising he'd been put through. She'd even ordered the guards to leave his dead body where it had landed just to get the point across even further. It had remained until it had finally rotted away and the bones taken away by the wildlife. Lavender also handed out brutal punishments for being late or being a coward. Many Avalonians could barely forget what had happened to the last person who turned up late for an exercise or had acted cowardly during the training.

This terrifying new status quo for Avalon had gone on for a year and many had suffered from Lavender's brutal rule. Cassandra had approved of this, agreeing heavily with her best friend's methods and was even the one to carry out many of the punishments Lavender subjected people to for any wrong-doings. Because of this, Lavender trusted Cassandra above all others and had appointed her as second-in-command. She was as much in charge as Lavender was and just as ruthless. As of now, she was dragging a helpless red panda by the scruff of his uniform. His name was Zen, and he was formerly the Magister's Royal Vizier before Draven's attack. After Lavender had taken over, she had fired Zen as she didn't want a Royal Vizier, feeling only comfortable with sharing a palace with Cassandra. The wildcat approached the door to the throne room and knocked on it, still clutching the sniveling Zen.

"Enter." came the blunt, cold reply on the other side.

The wildcat gave off a devilish grin before she kicked the door, causing it to swing wide open and crash into two guards on the other side, knocking them around like a kid playing with figures. She smirked as she walked in, dragging Zen by the collar while getting a look from the dragon that could only be described as a mixture of annoyance and amusement.

"...preferably without breaking down the door, thank you." Lavender muttered, "Either way, report. Who is this little runt you've brought with you?"

"Ohohoho, you wouldn't believe it Lavender," Cassandra said, holding Zen up in front of her like he was some sort of pinata, "Caught this little runt trying to break into the labs for that salvaged equipment. He used the vent system! The VENTS!"

The new Magister of Shang Tu approached the whimpering red panda with her hands behind her back and a stern look in her visible eye. Upon making herself Magister, she hadn't wasted anytime in making herself look the part,dressing herself up in royal robes and wearing a Magister's crown to symbolize the fact that she was in charge now and everybody had to obey her. Despite the beauty of these robes, they didn't mask the fact that they were worn by a monster. Not even their beauty could make Lavender look any less evil and cruel. Cassandra threw Zen down onto the floor, the captured Avalonian now on his knees and looking up at his Magister with fear and anxiety etched all over his face. Lavender looked down at him as if expecting the pathetic panda to kiss her feet.

"Is this true?" she demanded, her voice soft but her tone deadly.

Zen shook all over, sweat pouring down his furry face.

"N-n-no y-y-your M-M-Majesty. I-I-It's n-n-not t-t-true! H-h-honest it i-isn't!" he whimpered.

 **5+ HONEST**

"You think that weird five plus thing you do will make you look any less of a liar you toerag?" Lavender snapped fiercely, "I can see the fear all over your face! You're obviously lying so if you want your punishment to be less grisly, I suggest you just fess up and tell the truth! Not to mention, you hurt Cassandra's feelings!" she added, glancing up at her second-in-command.

"Yeah! I get upset when people call me a liar!" the wildcat with the one good eye growled, cracking her knuckles. Whenever she got angry, her dead right eye seemed to look even more grey than it already did.

Zen gulped, his ears drooping even further down behind his head. He looked up at Lavender again, knowing that his fate was pretty much sealed. But what did he have to lose? He'd already been fired from his job as Royal Vizier and the life he was living now wasn't worth it so why beg for mercy?

"OK, OK! I-I-I'm s-sorry I lied Magister!" Zen whimpered, "I c-c-confess! I d-d-did sneak i-into the l-labs f-f-for the s-s-salvaged equipment!"

"Why did you break into the lab for the salvaged equipment?" Lavender demanded.

"T-t-to see if th-there w-w-was anything t-t-to use to m-m-make your army s-s-stronger!" Zen squealed frantically.

 **5+ STRONGER**

"That's funny...I've been hearing rumours that you've been plotting to stage a coup d'état against me." the dragon dictator growled, "I bet you were planning to use any of that equipment against me to overthrow me weren't you?"

"Of course he was Lavender! Why else would he try and steal alien technology we salvaged?" Cassandra yelled angrily, "Not to mention, the science team would've let us know if there was anything our army can use so that discredits your lie you little bastard!"

She then grabbed Zen by the scruff of his neck and hoisted him up off the floor. Zen let out a terrified shriek of fright and he squirmed frantically, trying to get free.

"He's too dangerous to live Magister. He's a threat to your rule, I just know it!" the green-furred feline insisted, "What do you suggest we do with him?"

Lavender didn't take long to come to a decision. That was what made her such a frightening executor to those who wronged her. Whenever she gave out a punishment, it was usually almost immediate. And it was certainly immediate right now.

"Death by public execution." the teen-turned-tyrant announced, "Let him be an example against those who dare to commit treason against their Magister."

"Oooooh, that's a great idea!" Cassandra cried, grinning a wide, toothy grin of sadistic glee at the short-sized Avalonian.

"N-N-n-no! You c-can't!" Zen stammered, causing Lavender to glare at him sternly.

"And why not?" she coldly responded,"You've tried to break into private and restricted property, are part of a group of rebels wishing to overthrow me, attempted to steal confiscated technology, and NOW you have the AUDACITY to tell ME I can't have you executed?"

Her face was nearly an inch away from his, her draconic eyes burning with contained rage and anger.

"Go on then. Amuse me. Explain to me why I shouldn't just end your weak, pathetic little life right here, right now."

The smug look on her face was enough to annoy anybody. Every time Lavender smiled like that, Zen felt a great need to punch her right in the face. But the red panda was too frightened to even show any signs of defiance. He could only stare at her, lost for words and unable to say anything. Lavender smirked, clearly amused with the former Vizier's lack of response.

"I didn't think you had an explanation." she sneered, "Take that traitor away Cass. I'll get the guards to set up his execution immediately."

"Yes Magister!" Cassandra cried, saluting.

She dragged Zen away, the sounds of his whimpering and screaming quickly drowned out by the closing of the throne room doors as the wildcat left. Now alone, Lavender turned around to the two guards who had been standing by the doors when Cassandra had burst in earlier. They were both pandas and heavily resembled General Gong and Neera Li from Avalice.

The Gong-look alike was a big panda like his Avalician counterpart but his size was more because of muscle than fat. He looked like an over-developed wrestler, his muscles bulging every time he so much as moved. Unlike General Gong though, he didn't carry a shield. His weapon of choice was instead a giant mace, which had given him his name, General Mace.

The other panda was female and dressed in black and red robes that suggested she had a rather fiery personality. Her name was Nora Lu and unlike Neera Li, she carried a staff that created fire attacks instead of ice attacks. This in turn had earned her the nickname of "Nora the Fire Knight".

Mace and Nora were brother and sister, which gave them a closer bond than their Avalician counterparts and they were never apart. Their teamwork made them a force to be reckoned with and that was why Lavender had wasted no time in recruiting them in her army. They were loyal, but not quite as loyal as Cassandra, and were known to behave like thugs whenever going out among the populace. They liked being feared as it made them feel powerful.

"You two, prepare the chopping block in the city square." Lavender ordered, "We'll execute Zen there so everybody can see it happen."

"Right away Magister!" both Mace and Nora said, saluting their ruler.

They both left the room to carry out the task, leaving Lavender alone in her throne room to have a moment of peace before the execution. She strode over to her throne and sat down in it, sighing contently. She had worked hard, very hard, on carrying out her new laws and making this world better. It was still early to say she'd succeeded, but the dragon was pleased with how things were going. She'd had very few challenges to her rule, nearly everybody respected her and most of her army was loyal and devoted to her. She'd sworn to make this world perfect and now thanks to her iron-fisted rule, it was looking that way! No invader, be it native to the planet or invaders from beyond, would be a match for her army! Nobody's lives would be wasted to callously like last year! It was true not everybody approved of her ideals but why should she care what the lowly people thought? They were too weak and simple-minded to see the bigger picture, and Lavender had shown them what happened to those who defied her.

Just as Lavender was starting to relax, she heard another knock on the door. Straightening up, she frowned in annoyance.

"Not more people bothering me..." she sighed, "Come in!"

The door opened and in walked the one person who was a bigger reminder to the people of Avalon the horrors of Draven's invasion than anybody else. Princess Mara let herself in, shyly looking down at her feet as she approached her Magister. Lavender eased her nerves, happy to see it was only her.

"G-g-greetings R-royal M-Magister." Mara stumbled, clutching the stump of her right arm. She'd gotten into the habit of doing that whenever she was nervous.

"There's no need to be so anxious Mara." Lavender said softly, "You're only talking to your best friend after all. Please, come here so we can have a little get together."

Mara shuddered as she stumbled forward, clutching the stump of what once was her arm. Needless to say her uneasy demeanor was not unnoticed by the dragon.

"Why are you shaking?" Lavender spoke.

"Wh-what?" Mara responded.

"Don't play dumb with me. You're scared of something." Lavender said. "Tell me what it is."

Mara trembled again. "I-I just think that th-there could have been a way to... t-to avoid all this death a-and controversy that c-completely surrounds us."

Lavender raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I...I-I feel like there may have been a better way to get our world t-to properly defend i-itself if something like Draven happened again w-without going down the r-route this is now..."

Lavender's hands tightened and her frown turned into a hideous scowl that carried all the rage and anger one could feel. She could hardly believe what she was hearing.

"Are you questioning my laws Mara?" the dragon growled menacingly, "Because if sounds an awful lot like you are. Please tell me I've misinterpreted what you've said."

Mara cowered back, her ears flat against her head and her only remaining hand clutching the stump of her right arm so hard that it was beginning to hurt.

"N-n-no Lavender. Y-y-you heard correctly." the princess pooch stammered, "I know it's not prudent to question you a-a-at all L-Lavender b-but you m-must listen to me! This way! It isn't right! We were meant to help the people of Avalon recover from Draven's attack, not take it over and set a worse example than he did! People are suffering because of you and you don't listen to their cries for help! You want everybody to be a soldier but not everybody has that potential! And you just throw them into the wilds for not being "perfect" in your eyes! Please Lavender, listen to me, you must stop this! This isn't a perfect world, this is hell and you've created it!"

Enraged by the dog's words, Lavender let out a vicious, blood-curdling screech as she drew her arm back and backhanded Mara across the face as hard as she could. The blow was so hard that it knocked the poor dog off her feet and onto the floor. Mara burst into tears, clutching her throbbing cheek with her one hand. Due to the absence of her right arm, she couldn't lean on one elbow, thus meaning she had to lie there until she took her other hand from her cheek to get back up again. Lavender stood over the child, her only visible eye still full of rage.

"I DID ALL OF THIS FOR YOU YOU UNGRATEFUL BITCH!" she thundered, "You suffered more than anybody else on this fucking planet when Draven attacked! You lost your arm, your parents and your home was a mess when everything was over! You were the biggest victim of the attack and thus, I vowed to make sure nobody would suffer as much as you did by making this world better prepared for invasions or wars! And you dare to say that I've created hell?!"

Mara cowered, tears flowing from her eyes as she cowered, clutching her head with her one arm, whimpering badly. She was shaking terribly, unable to move aside from the sobbing wracking her body.

"I-I..." She stuttered. "I just want my f-friend back..."

Lavender seemed to grimace at that remark. It was almost as if the sentence had somehow offended her. Her hands seemed to shake as she exploded once more.

"You want your friend back?! YOU WANT YOU FRIEND BACK?!" she exclaimed, "Mara, grow the fuck up you snivelling baby! Your friend was weak! Why do you think that Cassandra got scarred and lost sight in one eye?! Why do you think you lost your arm? Why do you think Tomar died and our city was ravaged?! BECAUSE I COULDN'T FUCKING STAND UP TO DRAVEN, THAT'S WHY! If I'd been a lot stronger and better prepared, none of this shit would've happened! And you SERIOUSLY would prefer me as a weak, pathetic little girl who can't protect her own friends and loved ones?!"

"No, but I would prefer you as somebody who ACTUALLY HAS A HEART AND DOESN'T HAVE HER OWN HEAD UP HER ASS!" Mara shouted back, her tears now more tears of anger than fear as rage took over her.

The retort had come so suddenly and so angrily that even Mara was surprised at what she'd just said. Lavender was too shocked to even speak. Mara NEVER spoke to her that way! But at the same time, she wasn't even sure how to respond. It was as if all emotion had just drained away and left her unable to feel anything, not even anger. The dragon lowered her arms, looking down at the floor while Mara picked herself up. She was frightened. Would Lavender decide not to let her live and kill her for this? But as her former friend raised her head up again, she saw that her expression was...sad. There was no longer any anger in her eyes. She looked pained, as if Mara's words had wounded her very soul.

"You think I'm heartless?" the teen dragon said hoarsely, "The only reason you're still alive Mara is because I love you! You're like a sister to me! I can't kill you, even after all you've said, because of how much I love you! And you think that qualifies as being "heartless"? If that's how you feel...then I don't wanna see you anymore. Get out."

She turned her back on the hound, wrapping her arms around herself and refusing to look at the princess a second longer.

"Lavender, please..." Mara began.

The she-dragon spun around before she could carry on, making Mara jump.

 **"GET OUT!"** she bellowed.

Mara merely whimpered before she scampered to her feet and fled, tears flooding her eyes as the door slammed behind her. Now truly alone, Lavender sighed, the emotional pain in her chest starting to well up. It was like some damn holding back her emotions was about to burst inside. And then she just couldn't take it anymore. She collapsed to her knees, sobs wracking her entire body as even her frame shook from the air escaping her lungs. Without fully realizing it, Lavender was now pouring out all her grief and sorrow, unable to keep a hold of herself any longer.

"I've worked so hard to make this world better...but so many people are ungrateful!" Lavender wailed, pounding the floor, "Why can't they see that what I'm doing is for their own good?! WHY?!"

She remained where she was, waiting for all the emotional despair in her body to pour out as she wept. She knew how important it was to just let it all out instead of keeping it in. The dragon would soon feel better once she'd finished crying, but she felt like she'd be doing so for quite a while first. One day, everybody would better appreciate her efforts in improving this world. One day...

* * *

"Hope you're ready bub." Cassandra spoke as she stepped out of the front of the palace, clutching the shaking Zen tightly in her hand. "Maybe if you stop shuddering it'll be over quicker."

Zen could only shiver as he was carried out of the palace by the wildcat and to his fate. As Cassandra walked, she took sight of what had basically become the norm for the world of Avalon now. There were platoons of guards marching around, weapons in hand and keeping an eye out for the slightest inkling of danger. The marching was perfectly in time with a sinister sounding rhythm to it as if their pounding feet were making some kind of eerie music. They all wore armour that was decorated with a dragon logo, said logo clearly influenced by Lavender's appearance, and the leaders of the platoons would occasionally salute by holding up one hand with all five digits completely straight whenever they passed the palace. Cassandra even heard some of them chanting the one phrase that she was always glad to hear:

"Hail Lavender!"

It was customary for the guards to yell that as a sign of loyalty to their new Magister. Any guard who refused to say it was met with strict court martial. The loyal wildcat also saw that, just as it should be, there were flags draped over several buildings or flying on flagpoles, all of them carrying the same dragon logo that was on the guard's armour. Said logo had a purple silhouetted face resembling Lavender's, complete with the only one visible eye, and a ring of fire surrounding the face. It was meant to represent Lavender's rule and her powerful personality. Some liked to mock the logo and say it represents how much of a she-devil she was and that she would burn in hell. Of course, Lavender brutally punished anybody who disrespected the flag of her kingdom.

Cassandra and Zen soon arrived in the town square, where the chopping block had already been set-up by Nora and Mace. They were standing by the podium upon which the block had been set, performing the salute as Cassandra arrived, still clutching Zen. She gave them a sadistic smile as she handed the red panda over to the two panda siblings.

"Hold him until her majesty arrives." she ordered, "I doubt she'll keep us waiting for long." she added, sounding disturbingly eager as if she was keen for the show to get started already.

"I hope she lets me be the executioner this time." Mace added, clutching his namesake weapon tightly and glancing down at Zen, who looked back at him fearfully.

"She should let me kill the traitor." Nora muttered, "He can suffer a lot more burning to death than simply being bludgeoned by a mace."

"You got to execute the sentenced the last time we had a public execution Nora! It should be my turn now!" Mace barked indignantly.

"You shouldn't even get a turn because of how much of a doofus you can be." Nora snapped, "You're not fit to be executioner, the duty should be mine."

"Please, for Avalon's sake, can we have at least ONE public execution without you two dumbasses bitching at each other?! Is that just asking too much from you two?!" Cassandra sighed, face-palming herself in annoyance.

It didn't take long for her to come to a conclusion to solve this problem for she immediately backed up her last sentence by adding:

"You know what, NEITHER of you are doing the execution this time because of you acting like immature little shits!" She growled slamming Zen into the restraining locks of the chopping block. "You want something done right, ya gotta do it by yourself."

Zen was shaking furiously, trying to break out of the restraints before Cassandra slapped him on the back of the head. "Stop squirming! The less you move the less painful it'll be!"

"Please, I beg of you! You can't execute me! I've done nothing wrong! I'm not a traitor!" Zen whimpered.

"Yeah, try telling that to somebody who's stupid enough to believe you." Cassandra snorted, straightening up and stepping away from the chopping block.

The vicious feline noticed that there was a crowd beginning to build up around the square. Of course, many of Lavender's supporters, be they guards or civilians, wouldn't miss the opportunity to watch another public execution of another traitor to the crown. Anyone who opposed Lavender's rule only watched in order to give their sympathies to the victims or to give themselves a cynical reminder on why they shouldn't openly defy their Magister's orders. There was a mixture of delighted faces and worried looks from the onlookers that was building up as both fear and anticipation rang out from the crowd. Cassandra was almost tempted to address them but she kept her mouth closed and didn't say anything. It wasn't her place to address the populace.

Instead she stood to the side and waited for the Royal Magister herself to appear and begin the execution. They weren't kept waiting for long for the crowd began to part to the sides as somebody walked through them. There were some oohs and aahs from the crowd as they saw who it was while others responded with a hushed, nervous silence. Lavender the Dragon Girl had arrived. Her robes trailed behind her as she slowly walked through the crowd, approaching Cassandra and the restrained Zen. The guards bowed and her supporters cheered while the others dared not make a sound in fear of getting reprimanded by their ruthless leader.

Lavender approached Cassandra, who bowed respectfully to her Magister.

"We're ready when you are Magister." the wildcat announced.

The dragon nodded and then turned to face the crowd, feeling all eyes baring on her as she captured their attention. She held her hands out to the sides. No matter how people felt about her, the heroine-turned-dictator enjoyed the feeling of being the centre of attention and having everybody looking at her. It made her feel powerful and like everybody was in the palm of her hand.

"Ladies, gentlemen and kids of all ages! Show your support for her Royal Magister, Lavender!" Cassandra commanded, punching the air with her fists.

Most of the crowd roared in excitement once Cassandra had finished her sentence. Lavender smirked. It was good to be ruler, especially when you had people cheering your name like this. The dragon was quick to notice that not everybody was cheering but that didn't matter. As long as they weren't plotting against her, that was fine in her eyes. Once the cheering died down, Lavender spoke.

"Alright my subjects!" she announced, "It is time! Time to once again show those who dare to go against us a grim reminder of what happens when one dares to do so!"

The crowd let out a chorus of gasps, murmurs and jeers in response. Lavender then turned to the wildcat standing beside her.

"Cassandra, if you would like to do the honours?"

"With pleasure." Cassandra replied, stepping up to the shuddering Zen on the chopping block, "Just to amuse us, any last words?" she sneered.

"Only that you spare me!" Zen whimpered, "I'm telling you, I'm no traitor! You're all jumping to the wrong conclusions! Honestly!"

 **5+ HONESTLY**

"That's what they all say." Cassandra snorted.

"My people, the prisoner before you has been found guilty for the crime of attempted thievery and for plotting a coup against your Magister." Lavender announced, "And for that, his sentence is death. Those who appose the Royal Magister of Shang Tu suffer and die, I really don't need to make that point any clearer. And woe betide any of you if you show sympathy for this traitor..." she added, glaring at the crowd as if daring anybody to be stupid enough to do just that.

There were secretly those who believed Zen was innocent but in fear of ending up like him, they didn't dare show any signs of sympathy for him. Those who supported Lavender had no problem with openly crying for the Red Panda's death, chanting:

"Death to the traitor! Death to the traitor!"

That was just the response Lavender was waiting to hear. Satisfied, she turned back to Cassandra.

"Now Cassandra, let's give the people what they demanded." she purred.

Smiling wickedly, Cassandra snatched General Mace's mace out of his hands and walked up to Zen, slowly batting her hand with it. The panda struggled furiously in his binds, already guessing how he was going to die. He would've preferred a simple beheading as it would make his death quick and painless. But no, that would've been TOO merciful for them! Cassandra stood before Zen, raising the mace above her head.

"Say hi to Draven for us you conniving son of a bitch..." she growled, grinning sadistically.

It happened all too soon. The sickening sound of a skull crunching under the force of a heavy blunt object rang across the city as in one swift movement, Cassandra caved the poor red panda's head in with the mace. Silence seemed to remain all across the area as everyone looked onwards at the body of the red panda. A stream of blood trickled over the side of the execution block, painting the wood red every inch it grew. Lavender smirked.

Unbeknownst to Lavender or Cassandra, Mara the Hound had been watching the execution as well and had turned away before she could watch Zen's grisly fate. The gruesome sound of metal smashing bone would forever be in her head and she'd never be able to forget it. Unable to watch anymore, she began pushing her way through the crowd, clearly keen to get as far away from the scene as possible.

 _Oh Lavender, why have you gone so insane?!_ the puppy wailed in her head.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even hear the dragon's supporters break out into applause over the red panda's death. She didn't even hear Lavender make another announcement, her words sounding muted and very far away to the pooch princess. The crowd was roaring in acceptance from the traitor's execution, and those opposing knew they were powerless to stop them.

"Have this be a reminder to everyone that falls under the same traitorous case of this wretch!" She spoke. "Anyone that dare tries to go against the established rule with be DEALT with! And if I we're you, I'd rather value my own life rather than try to throw it away on a pointless revolution against me."

Her words were direct, straight to the point and very matter-of-fact. With any luck, nobody would be foolish enough to try and betray her again...

* * *

 _Several weeks later.._

Zen's death had left a lingering impact on Shang Tu. Even now, a lot of people were still talking about it or bringing it up as an excuse to stave off rebellion. There were no more cases of planned rebellions and anarchy for now and everything seemed to be going like clockwork. Life carried on as normal and Lavender's "perfect" kingdom functioned as normal. Of course, the dragon knew that this one death wouldn't stop rebellion entirely. At the very least, it'd just prevent it from coming for a while.

But Zen's death and the impact it left wasn't on her mind right now. Instead, she had gathered Cassandra, Mara, Mace and Nora with her and was leading them to the Avalon Science Centre, a large building that didn't look as if the architect had designed it with science in mind. It looked more like a small castle than anything science-related with four turrets and a very cuboid appearance. This was where Draven's scavenged tech had been taken and the one year that had gone by since his attack had been put to use working out how this technology worked. Lavender had received a call from the head scientist to say that they'd made some kind of breakthrough so she was interested to see what was happening.

"So what do you think Draven's tech can do that the eggheads have finally figured out?" Cassandra sneered, "Bet it makes the world's best toaster waffle or something."

"Why do you need us to come?" Mara asked curiously. She legitimately saw no reason for her and the others to attend the dragon in this visit.

"Because I like to feel protected and with any luck, any of Draven's tech might be able to perform a miracle of some kind like say, give you a new arm or whatever." Lavender explained, "I'm genuinely curious to see what our guys have worked out."

Mara merely nodded, seemingly distant from the others. "R-right..."

"Oh lighten up you runt." Mace grunted, smacking Mara on the back, "Just go along with it."

Mara remained silent, stumbling forward a bit from the smack as the doors to the labs swung open.

Despite the building's lack of evidence that it was science related in anyway, the interior more than proved it was a lab. There were rows upon rows of worktables and chairs with many people sitting at them, sketching formulas, ideas and possible blueprints for any new weapons or machines. There were lots of tools all sprawled around the tables, ranging from screwdrivers to drills and even simple boxes of nuts and bolts. The atmosphere was busy and full of activity, not a single worker stopping what they were doing. Nobody even looked up as Lavender and her friends entered the building. It was orders after all, never stop working no matter what happens.

Lavender approached one table that had a bunch of scientists looking at some weird devices that were not Avalonian in nature. They were the people working on Draven's scavenged tech and now the dragon was going to see what breakthrough they'd made. She stood up straight and folded her arms, waiting for the team to acknowledge her. One of the scientists, a green-furred capybara with square spectacles and a bald patch on one cheek, noticed the Royal Magister and quickly bowed, the rest of his team following suit.

"Milady!" the capybara exclaimed quickly, hoping he hadn't mistimed his response.

"At ease Archimedes." Lavender muttered, "So, you tell me that you've figured something out?"

"Oh we have indeed your majesty." Archimedes replied, turning back to the table and picking up one of the alien devices lying there.

Said device looked like a shark's fin, only metallic and dotted with blue circles that served no obvious purpose to anyone looking at it. It was the size of a dinner plate and Archimedes seemed to strain briefly as he picked it up, suggesting it weighed more than the eye would've believed. Lavender looked at it as Archimedes began to explain.

"This device here was the most intriguing find out of that vessel." the rodent scientist explained, "You see, witnesses claimed that the ship seemed to come out of nowhere, as if it just...appeared by magic. Of course, magic is complete nonsense and thus, we knew there had to be a scientific explanation behind this."

"And I suppose that thing is how Draven got here?" Lavender guessed.

"Absolutely. It's a multi-universal teleportation device." Archimedes continued, "You know how we've often theorized that there might be more universes out there than just our own?"

"Yeah. We've made countless films and comics about it." Cassandra said, her interest piqued, "So I guess that thing is proof that there is another universe after all?"

"Pretty much." Archimedes confirmed, "It took us a while to figure out what it did but by sheer chance, we managed to get it to work. I guessed that these blue circles," he paused as he pointed to them on the device, "are sensor pads that activate it. I placed my fingers on and nothing happened at first until I started thinking of home. It suddenly transported me back to my house! I even tested it by thinking of another planet, of course making sure I had a spacesuit on in case I couldn't breathe on said planet, and I ended up in a barren, red wasteland that had no gravity and some strong winds. You can imagine I didn't stay very long."

Lavender nodded, taking in the story and mulling it over in her head. How intriguing this was. They have in their hands, a device that can literally teleport them to other worlds! It explained how Draven was able to get here, he had used the device to jump from whatever universe he was in to this one. Certainly saved him a trip, that was for sure. The dragon took the device from Archimedes and looked closer at it, running a hand over the smooth metal surface.

"Incredible...just imagine what we could do with this..." she murmured, "We could hop to other worlds, other universes, maybe even parallel worlds if such a thing exists! And maybe we could go to some kind of world that could help keep my planet even safer from threats and maybe somehow give Mara a new arm!"

The dog just put a hand on her stump and said nothing. She had a feeling Lavender had less noble plans in mind with that device. While Mara was thinking her private thoughts, a sudden lightbulb moment went off in Cassandra's head, making her blurt out something.

"Wait... Lavender."

"What?"

"Think about this: with a bit of configuration, we could make a portal with this thing, meaning more than one of us could go through it. We could visit other worlds with ease... or even, other AVALONS!" the wildcat exclaimed excitedly.

"...Cassy, you genius!" Lavender cried, "If it wasn't so awkward right now I could kiss you for such a brainwave!"

Cassandra sweat-dropped uncertainly.

"It's fine Lavender." she said tightly, before looking at the others, "Anybody have any objections?"

"I don't have an objection per say, just a question of logic." Nora said, raising her hand, "Namely why would we even NEED to go to an alternate version of our planet? What benefits could we get from that?"

"If the alternate Avalon's got stuff that our would has, we could take it for ourselves and use it to strengthen my hold on the world and make our armies stronger and more invincible." Lavender suggested, "Given it'll be an alternate version of our planet, they could have ANYTHING. Maybe even a way to give Mara a new arm." she added, looking over at the princess.

"Never mind my arm, don't you think that this is going too far?" the dog asked cautiously, "I mean, we've already become fascists who subjugated our own world and made it hell, what gives us any right to just invade another world and take whatever we fancy? I mean, what if we cripple the alternate Avalon by doing this?"

"Oh will you stop having a conscience for once in your life you mongered?" Cassandra sighed irritably, "Who cares what happens to whatever version of Avalon we visit? It's not OUR world so whatever happens there is not our business!"

"Exactly." Lavender added, glaring at the dog, "So Mara, I suggest you drop the sympathies and just go along with what we do."

Mara nodded, silently scowling at the injustice of what her friends were about to do. Soon, she would take the throne that was rightfully hers and give Lavender the punishment she deserves for her atrocities!

"So Archimedes, how many do you think this thing'll carry?" the draconian dictator asked, turning to the capybara.

"I imagine it'll take as many as it can, as long as everybody holds onto you." Archimedes guessed, "You use the device, the others can hold onto you and I'm sure it'll transport all five of you at once. I haven't tested that theory yet so it might not happen."

"Then allow us to be that test." Lavender declared, "Cass, Mara, Mace, Nora, hold onto me."

The other four quickly grabbed onto either Lavender or the device. Remembering how Archimedes said he'd activated the device, Lavender began to think about an alternate version of her world. That would transport them, if it would work.

"Alright." she spoke, closing her eyes as she focused her mind.

Soon enough the five began to flicker and then disappear altogether as they were teleported out of this dimension in a bright blue flash of light...

* * *

 _Avalice, The Royal Shang Mu Shopping Centre..._

It hadn't taken long for Lilac and her friends to arrive at the Royal Shang Mu Shopping Centre. Upon arrival, Lilac had quickly found herself being greeted by the populace of the city. To her delight, it was all welcoming and friendly greetings. It seemed that the kingdom of Shang Mu no longer blamed her for anything that had happened from the Dark Stone incident to Memphis's take-over. In fact, a few people were even quick to shout out apologies.

"Hey look, it's Lilac!"

"The dragon girl who we wrongfully drove into exile! How could we?!

"We're so sorry we hated on you and didn't believe you!"

"Hope you forgive us for our distrust!"

"Thank you so much for stopping Memphis!"

Lilac wasn't really sure how to respond, just smiling modestly and waving back as many citizens called out to her. Carol wasn't so quiet, slowly cruising through the crowd while hastily urging the people to stand back.

"Come on, come on guys. Give us some space OK?" she said tightly, "Our heroic dragon needs to get to the shopping centre."

"It's fine Carol, you don't have to shoo them away." Lilac said casually, "I'm just glad people actually wanna see me again instead of demanding I go away!"

"Is this the first time since your exile that you've had such a positive welcome from the people?" Torque asked curiously, eyeing the people all around as they came in to see their heroine.

"Not exactly as I already had some positive comments when I came back to stop Memphis." Lilac admitted, "Though it still is pretty welcoming to actually have people pleased to see me for a change. I'd almost forgotten what it felt like to be welcomed instead of feared."

"Do you forgive the people for turning against you?" Terra asked.

"Mostly. I haven't fully forgiven Zao yet but I'm not still mad at him either." the dragon replied, "He was the first to doubt me after all so he's gonna take the longest to earn my forgiveness."

The two Chasers nodded. They could understand why. Even though they hadn't been there when Lilac had been exiled, they had been there when Zao had accused Lilac of willingly using the Dark Stone when she hadn't. They imagined that Zao was probably the start of the populace turning against Lilac in the first place so it made sense why she wasn't forgiving him just yet.

"Let's not worry about Mayor Egotist guys." Carol said quickly, "We're here to buy new supplies for our treehouse and make a start to building Torque's base. So what do you think we'll need to buy?"

"We'll need plenty of wood and nails for starters." Natalya confirmed, "And I imagine the Chasers will want plenty of metal. Hopefully we'll be able to afford as much as we can with the amount of crystals we were given as reward for stopping Memphis." she added, fishing a few out of her pockets to have a look at them.

"Knowing Zao, he's so grateful to us for saving his kingdom and getting Memphis off the throne he'll probably give us what we want for free." Carol snickered.

"You sure Carol?" Lilac asked. "Zao would always be looking to turn a profit on something, even _if_ it's heavily discounted."

"Hey, I'm certain he'd give us the stuff for free. Wildcat's intuition." Carol retorted, fists on her hips.

"It's _hound's_ intuition." Milla corrected. "And last I checked, you're a wildcat."

Carol responded with a deadpan look. She seemed annoyed over the fact Milla clearly missed the point of what she had said.

"It's an expression Milla." she responded flatly.

"Never mind." Lilac said dismissively, "We're almost at the shopping centre anyway. We'll soon find out if we'll end be getting what we want for free or..."

She was abruptly cut off by a bright flash of blue that came out of nowhere directly in front of her. Squealing in alarm, Lilac leapt back as if she'd been electrocuted, her eyes wide in surprise. Her friends all stood close behind her, staring incredulously ahead at the flash of light.

"What in the Magister's name is that?!" Carol exclaimed.

"That's not your magic is it Clifford?" Natalya asked, glancing over at the elderly wizard.

"No, that's not my doing." Clifford said grimly, "Could it be another wizard or...?"

They soon got their answer as the flash dissipated and revealed five Avalicians standing before them. Lavender and her friends had successfully managed to jump from their world to Avalice and once the light had vanished, they were quick to start looking around. They didn't get to see much before Lilac let out another scream of shock. Lavender's head snapped around to see who was screaming and let out a scream of her own, though hers was more surprise than shock.

"Well this visit's going well. Two seconds and already people are screaming at us." Cassandra sighed irritably.

The two purple dragons approached one another, slowly and wearily as if they felt the need to assess themselves that what they were seeing was real. They stared directly into each other's eyes, taking on what the other was seeing. The others watched, unsure of what to make of this situation. Nobody could even speak for a moment due to how incredulous this scene was. Then Lilac and Lavender reached out and touched hands with one another. It was as if they had to make sure that they weren't looking at a mirror and thus, needed to touch one another to see if the other was real. Upon making contact, they withdrew their hands. Lilac put her hands over her mouth while Lavender recoiled as if she'd been bitten by a snake.

"By the ancestors!" Lilac shrieked, "That girl looks a lot like me!"

"So I guess this is what I look like on this world?" Lavender whispered hoarsely, "Gotta say...I'm disappointed. She looks too girly to be me."

"Hey, watch who you're calling "girly" you freak!" Carol snarled viciously, "Now I'm given you guys five seconds to answer my questions! Who the hell are you and why in the name of Avalice do you look like uglier versions of us?!"

"Who the fuck are you calling ugly you bitch?!" Cassandra growled, baring her teeth angrily.

"Cass, back down!" Lavender snapped, "We didn't come here to start a fight!"

Reluctantly, the wildcat obeyed and stepped back, folding her arms indignantly. Lavender turned back to Lilac, who still looked disturbed at what she was seeing.

"Who...are you?" she asked nervously, "And why do you look like me?"

"My name is Lavender." the dragon replied, "And I guess you could say I'm from an alternate version of your world. I come from the planet Avalon and we've come here on a test to see if alternate worlds are a thing. I'd say the test 100% proves that theory..."

* * *

 _ **Avalice and Avalon have now collided! Team Lilac meets Team Lavender! But this meeting won't stay pleasant forever...**_

 _ **Tune in next time to see what happens now these two teams have met one another...**_


	4. Chapter 3: Worlds Collide

_Chapter 3: Worlds Collide_

Team Lilac fell silent for a long time. It seemed almost incredulous to believe it but here they were, actually seeing alternate versions of themselves! No dream, no joke, no anything! This was really happening, plain and simple! They had just teleported right in front of them and the three girls that had come from nowhere bared heavy resemblance to Lilac and her two friends! Not only that, they had two pandas with them that resembled General Gong and Neera Li too! It took a while for this all to settle in for something as incredible as this doesn't just simply pass over one's head in a brief second or so. Lavender began to feel uncomfortable with this silence that seemed to just stretch on and on so she cleared her throat to break it.

"Yes, I know, it's quite shocking isn't it? I imagine you're um...very perplexed at this." she said sheepishly.

"Just a little..." Lilac admitted, "Though then again, I shouldn't really. I mean Torque here proved to us that aliens exist so should we really be THAT surprised that alternate universes exist?" the dragon said, shrugging.

"Me and the other Chasers already knew that." Torque said casually, "But I didn't think that I'd end up seeing an alternate version of Lilac, Carol or Milla for real..." he added, running his eyes over the trio. He was quick to notice that Lavender seemed to be looking at him in surprise as if she was seeing a ghost. That made Torque feel slightly uncomfortable. What did this mean for Lavender's world's version of him, if there was one?

"And people think comic books can't teach you anything." Carol snorted humorously, "This is too cool for words! Real alternate versions of us! I know it's kinda freaky but it's awesome at the same time!"

Cassandra sighed irritably, not taking much pleasure in seeing that this was meant to be this world's version of her. Far too excitable and bubbly for her tastes.

"Yeah...awesome I'm sure." the wildcat sighed.

"So your name is Lavender." Lilac said, acknowledging what the alternate her had said, "It's a pretty name. Goes with your scales too."

"Well um...thank you." Lavender said awkwardly. She wasn't used to getting such kind comments so she wasn't fully sure how to respond. Coughing, she replied by asking, "And what's your name? No doubt that like me, it's related to the colour purple."

The two dragons giggled before Lilac answered.

"My name's Lilac. It's a pleasure to meet you, if kinda surreal at the same time." the dragon girl said, "These two here are Carol and Milla, my best friends." she added, pointing to the wildcat and hound.

"Yo." Carol said simply.

"How do you do?" Milla asked sweetly.

"We also have Natalya, my adopted mother, Miguel and Lela, Milla's parents, Clifford, Carol's grandfather, and these two are Torque and Terra, who are from another world entirely." Lilac introduced, motioning to the others.

"Welcome to our world." Lela said politely.

"Aww, very nice." Lavender said, her voice sounding stiff as if she didn't really mean what she said, "As for these two, they're Cassandra and Mara. I guess you could say they're my world's equivalents to Carol and Milla." the one-horned dragon introduced, motioning to the wildcat and hound respectively, "And the two pandas are Mace and Nora."

"Eh." Cassandra said nonchalantly.

Mace and Nora just saluted and bowed.

"It's an esteemed pleasure of ours to meet you three." Mara said politely, bowing.

That was when Milla suddenly shrieked out loud and grabbed hold of Lilac's arm. The princess's face fell for she knew exactly what had alarmed her Avalician counterpart.

"L-L-Lilac! S-s-she's g-g-got one arm!" Milla squealed.

"Milla! Don't be rude!" Lilac hissed, "That's a very insensitive thing to do!"

"Dearest, we've taught you better than this." Miguel said sternly, "It's not polite to point out things like that. It can hurt people's feelings."

Milla understood and looked down at her feet in shame, disgusted with her behaviour.

"I'm very sorry...I didn't mean to be so rude and thoughtless." she said sadly.

"It's quite alright other me. I'm used to it..." Mara sighed, rubbing the stump that remained of her arm again, "Ever since I lost it in our battle with Draven, everybody's noticed it and not kept their prejudices to themselves."

"You poor thing..." Lela said sympathetically, "Whatever happened to you? And who's Draven?"

"What's Avalon like? Is it a nice planet?" Lilac asked.

Lavender, Cassandra, Mara, Mace and Nora all glanced at each other for a minute or two. They all had the same question running through their heads: should they tell them? They all came to the same conclusion just as quick. Yes, tell them. But only half-truths. They didn't want anybody knowing their true colours, not yet. That would come in time. Their minds made up, Lavender answered.

"Well... sort of." the draconian dictator said, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head. "Let's just say after what we did, some nutcase decided to take over our Shang Tu as a leader and... well, things kinda went to hell from there, for a lack of a better term."

"The other kingdoms didn't try to intervene?" Lilac had asked, causing all five of the alternates to become confused.

"Wait, what." Cassandra said. "There's more than one kingdom in this world?"

"Three to be accurate!" Carol replied, grinning.

"Interesting..." Lavender spoke, "Anyways, back on topic... Needless to day, we only barely managed to escape here thanks to some pretty impressive technology, something that only us five have a hold of. Though, I would imagine that the 'ruler' back home is no doubt trying to find us or wherever we went."

"Wh-who is this Draven person?" Milla asked, shuddering a bit. "W-was he your world's Brevon?"

"Who?" Mara asked.

"Alien warlord that crash landed on our planet and then tried to steal the Kingdom Stone to escape and use in his galactic conquest." Lilac said. "And that's the short version. Trust me, there's a LOT of details I thankfully spared you from."

"Sounds nasty..." Mace commented.

"Yeah, and he does sound like the Draven that hit our world..." Cassandra said. "But... you said he had come to steal something called a Kingdom Stone? What... exactly is that?"

That question stunned Lilac. They were actually asking what the Kingdom Stone was? Did their world not have one? Dismissing the thought, the dragon decided to answer.

"The Kingdom Stone is what gives our world energy." she explained, "It's a vastly powerful gem that we need in order to survive. We use the stone's energy to power just about everything in our world. Without it...we wouldn't survive. When Brevon crashed onto our planet, he wanted to steal it so he could power his ship and get off of Avalice. Of course we couldn't let him get away with our world's only power source so we fought him off and managed to prevent him getting away with the stone. It's no longer a stone though, but a swirling mass of energy that appears in the night sky every so often. It's like watching swirling stars, and just as beautiful!"

This information was more than enough to catch the interest of Lavender and Cassandra. This world had an incredible power source? Looks like they'd hit the jackpot! Imagine what they could do with power like what this "Kingdom Stone" provided! Nobody would dare oppose Lavender's rule again! Any rebel would be weak and powerless before her with that kind of power! They would have to try and steal it whenever they got an opportunity to do so. But for now, they had to keep up the pretence.

"Well, that's very interesting." Lavender said, actually meaning what she said, "And quite different from our world. We don't have anything like that. Avalon's not powered by a "Kingdom Stone". Our energy comes from a sceptre that lies in the core of the planet. We simply call it the "Power Core" because I guess we were too lazy to give it a good name. Legend says that it was put there by the first dragon to land on Avalon and was put in the core precisely so that nobody could ever steal it. I mean what idiot would go into the core of a planet to try and steal something lying there?!"

That set everybody off, except for Mara who had to feign laughter to keep up appearances. Once everybody stopped laughing, Torque decided it was time to address the big elephant in the room.

"OK, hope you don't mind me asking girls, but how exactly did you three get here?" the Chaser asked, "Multiverse travel is no easy feat. You must've had some serious tech to get here."

"We did. We scavenged it from Draven after he was defeated." Lavender explained, showing Torque the multi-universal transportation device that they had just tested, "We discovered how it works and we tested it to see what we could do with it. We thought about a parallel world to ours and...well, we ended up here."

"And a good thing too." Nora muttered, summoning a flame from her scepter, "We were almost goners until we ended up here. The ones who oppressed our world will stop at nothing to make sure we're dead! We're rebels after all and we oppose the dictator who ruined our world! And we don't intend to stop until said dictator's been dethroned."

"Sounds you got quite the mountain to climb in that case." Lilac said.

"And that brings me to the next subject I wanted to bring up." Lavender spoke. "We... need someplace to hide out for a while."

"Hide out?" Carol asked. "Why?"

"For lack of a better term, if we tried to go back there now, we'd be destroyed. Entirely." Lavender answered. "We need to lay low for a while until that dictator is sure we're 'dead', then we come back and strike 'em where they least expect it, if you don't mind."

Lilac turned to face her friends as if seeing if she could guess what they were thinking. She herself couldn't see any harm in letting these five alternate versions of themselves hang around for a while. If it was to trick their oppressor into thinking they were dead, then there was no reason why they shouldn't let them stay. It worked well enough for Memphis when he initiated his big take-over, lurking in the shadows and hiding it out for a while until it was time to make his move and strike when they least expected it. At least in this case, it wasn't anybody buying their time to take over Avalice. Just to make doubly sure, Lilac gathered her friends together in a huddle so they could talk privately.

"Do you think we should let them stay?" Milla whispered.

"They wanna strike their oppressors when they least expect it so it's a good reason to hide out." Lilac noted, "I think we should let them. I see no harm in doing so."

"I dunno Lilac...something about these guys seems a bit off to me." Carol murmured, "When it comes to comics I've read, the alternate counterparts of the heroes tend to be evil. What if they're THOSE kinds of alternate versions?"

"They seem friendly enough, even if they have a bit of a rough edge to them." Natalya said, "If they wanted to attack us, they'd have done so by now. But taking in what Carol said, they could be lulling us into a false sense of security. Given what Memphis did, we can't afford to lower our guard again. Last thing we want is another take over."

"But they never even knew we existed until now." Lilac noted, "Why would they wanna take us over?"

That made everybody think for a moment. Lilac did have a point there. Why take over a world they'd never heard of? Plus, they were the ones who had THEIR world taken over so what motive would they have to take over another?

"Well I don't see anything wrong with letting them stay." Terra said casually, "Aren't we all about helping those in need?"

"Terra's right." Torque agreed, "We may have suspicions, but we can't just turn them away like that. For every chance there is they're lying, there's just as much chance they're honest. We could let them stay and the moment they show any signs of hostility, we could send them back to their world."

"Yeah. It'd be easy enough to just get their device and warp them back with it if we had to." Lilac agreed.

With their minds made up, the group huddle broke up and Lilac turned back to face the Avalonians.

"We've all decided that we'll let you stay with us." the dragon girl announced, "We'd be most honoured to have you as guests until you need to return home."

Deep inside, Lavender was cheering excitedly, pleased to see that her deception was working. She almost felt sad to think that these were meant to be alternate versions of the people of her world. How could this brainless girl possibly be an alternate version of her? Instead though, she merely bowed politely.

"Thank you for your hospitality alternate-me." she said, "I do hope it's not too much trouble for you."

"No, no, it's fine! We've got room to spare!" Lilac said brightly, "To be honest, we were actually buying supplies to extend my treehouse until you showed up. Maybe you could help us with that? And in turn, we could help you take back your world and free it from oppression."

"Oh heavens no, we couldn't ask that of you!" Lavender exclaimed, pretending to sound concerned, "It's kind of you to offer but we don't wanna risk your lives for our sake."

"Nonsense! It's what we do!" Lilac cried dismissively, "Me and my friends have saved our world plenty of times! We even stopped Brevon when he invaded our world...twice in fact! We're more than capable of handling whatever threat's on your world!"

Despite finding it hard to believe that this pathetic girl was meant to be an alternate her, Lavender was quietly impressed with this show of courage. Maybe she was more like her than she thought. She hoped that she wouldn't have to fight Lilac, thinking that she was possibly as skilled as her if she had managed to save her world from disaster several times. If all went to plan, she wouldn't have to. Nodding slowly, the draconian dictator answered again.

"Very well, if that's what you want, you can join us in our coup when we return. It's very kind of you to offer your services like that."

"No problem!" Lilac said brightly, "Anything for another version of me!"

"So you said something about buying supplies. Is that place there a shop or something?" Cassandra asked, pointing to Zao's Shopping Mall.

"That's right!" Carol confirmed, "You joining us in there?"

"We don't have any money on us so we can't buy anything." Mara said glumly, "You go on and buy what you need. We'll wait out here for you."

Lavender nodded approvingly, thinking Mara had a good idea. This would give the five a private moment together to discuss what they were going to do. Lilac understood what Mara had said and set off towards the mall.

"That's OK. We'll manage on our own but you can still help us when we get back if you want." she offered kindly.

"As you said Lilac, anything for another version of me." Lavender said, putting fake humour into her voice.

The dragon girl headed off into the mall with Carol, Milla, Miguel, Lela, Natalya, Clifford, Torque and Terra following close behind. As soon as they disappeared into the huge shopping paradise, Lavender quickly gathered Cassandra, Mara, Nora and Mace around into a huddle of their own. Now was the time to start formulating a plan. Chances are, their Avalician selves would be in there a while so they had all the time they had to talk. Any citizen passing by looked at them in confusion, wondering what the huddle was about, but said nothing and walked on by.

"So, how about that? We're on an alternate Avalon. I think we've made the breakthrough of a life time!" Lavender exclaimed.

"Breakthrough of a lifetime indeed." Cassandra said, "Still a little bit disappointed about alternate us though."

"Well sometimes it's not all as it's cracked up to be." Lavender spoke, "But there's so much this new world has to offer! It'd be perfect for expanding our help to here!"

"I'm still not sure..." Mara spoke, "Lavender, what if they find out?"

"Trust me Mara..." Lavender said dismissively, "They won't know until it's too late."

"Are you sure?"

"Certain."

"So what do we do now your majesty?" Mace asked curiously.

"Well for starters, we get hold of this "Kingdom Stone" and we use its power for our own needs." Lavender explained, "If that gem has the power to keep this world alive, imagine what it could do for us! My reign will never be challenged again with that kind of power!"

"But we can't do that!" Mara protested, "You heard what they said, the Kingdom Stone keeps their world alive with its energy! If we take it, we'll just be sending Avalice to its death!"

"Don't be such an idiot Mara, of course we won't." the dragon-turned-dictator snorted, "Avalice will become a part of my regime so the Kingdom Stone's power will still remain here to keep it alive. It'll just be under our ownership that's all and we control its energy."

"Whoa, wait a minute, we're actually taking this place over?" Cassandra blurted, sounding surprised.

"Of course we are! You heard what those girls told us about this place, it's a joke!" Lavender hissed, "I mean THREE kingdoms? Three kingdoms that no doubt share power between one another? It's a war waiting to happen! With my leadership and my guiding hand, we can save Avalice from itself and if we take control of this world just like we did our world, we'll have the most unstoppable army ever. No threat will ever come to Avalon or Avalice ever again! Our alternate selves will be thanking us when we're done!"

"We can't do this Lavender, we just can't!" Mara protested, "This isn't our world! We have no right to interfere and decide what we do with it! I know you're drunk off your ass with power but this is going too far! I'll play no part in this whatsoever!"

Lavender snarled viciously at Mara, disgusted to hear her even suggest such a thing. This little brat had the nerve to speak to her, HER, like that?! Angered, the dragon grabbed Mara by the arm and twisted it violently behind the dog's back. Mace, Nora and Cassandra gathered around to make it harder for anybody passing by to see what was happening. Mara tried to squeal but Lavender had clasped a hand over her mouth to keep her quiet.

"You speak to me like that again you little fuck and I'll rip your only remaining arm off and smack you around the head with it!" the dragon growled savagely, "You're playing a part in this scheme whether you like it or not! GOT IT?!"

Mara whimpered and nodded her head frantically, not wanting to lose her only remaining arm.

"Good." She growled. "Now don't get on my bad side anymore."

"Sheesh Lavender, let's try NOT blowing our cover, okay? Refrain from smacking Mara around until we get back home." Cassandra said.

Lavender merely rolled her eyes but decided to go with what her friend said.

"Whatever, fine. Let's just keep the facade up. The longer we hold it the more convincing we are."

"And if they find out ahead of time?" Mace asked.

"Evasive actions." Lavender replied bluntly.

That was all that needed to be said. The plan had been set. Now all they had to do was carry it out and see if it would work as successfully as they hoped...

* * *

Team Lavender had managed to spend an entire week on Avalice. In order to keep up the ruse, the team knew that they had to stay on the planet as long as possible just to further lure their Avalician selves into a false sense of security and have them believe that they were what they said they were. Their long stay was a part of their pretence in "staying away from Avalon long enough for the world's oppressor to forget about them and then strike when they least expect it". Much of their stay had involved them socializing with their Avalician counterparts and helping them out in building the treehouse and Torque's new base.

Over the course of this week, it looked as if friendships were starting to form. Cassandra and Carol still butted heads on occasion but tolerated each other enough at least, Mara and Milla had come close to each other with very little prompting and Lilac and Lavender had barely stopped talking to each other ever since the day Team Avalon had arrived. One day, Lilac had told Lavender about how she and Natalya had come to know each other and become mother and daughter. The story had interested Lavender greatly.

"So that Natalya person mentored you, thus explaining your fighting skills." the draconian dictator murmured, "And despite being a crime boss, she turned over a new leaf and adopted you. I must admit, I wish I had somebody I could call "mother"."

"What happened to your mom?" Lilac had asked.

"Dunno. I was too young to remember her. I was still a baby when she vanished. Whether she was killed, taken or she abandoned me, I have no idea. You were at least lucky enough to have yours before she was murdered." Lavender said, sounding almost sad upon reflecting that.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Lilac said sympathetically, "What about Natalya? I'm sure your world has a Natalya."

"Oh it does, definitely." the Avalonian replied, "She's called "Natasha" rather than Natalya and while she mentored me the way Natalya mentored you, I wouldn't say she was like a mother to me. I often wonder if she hated me...she always seemed to look at me funny when she trained me. After I graduated, I never saw her again. Probably still training people to be warriors now."

Natalya had heard that part of the conversation and was rather disappointed to hear that her Avalonian counterpart was nothing like her. She had offered her sympathy to Lavender and had been quick to insist that she was nothing like Natasha. Lavender hadn't needed much convincing and deep inside, she was beginning to wish that Natasha could've turned out like Natalya. Why did Lilac seem so lucky in comparison to her? Good friends who didn't have hideous battle damages, a nicer mentor, her world's Torque still alive and she's still able to be chipper, friendly and bright despite what she'd been through. Her time on Avalice had slowly began to make Lavender jealous of her Avalician counterpart. Boy would she put that dragon in her place when her takeover began!

Of course, Mace and Nora had asked about their own counterparts during this week. Carol had been quick to tell them about General Gong and Neera Li and how they protected the Magister in Shang Tu.

"I didn't think on your world, I would be armed with a defensive weapon rather than an offensive one." Mace muttered, "Nor that I'm several pounds heavier." he added, running a hand over his stomach as if hoping he wasn't looking fat himself.

"So on your world, I'm a priestess named Neera Li and I have ice powers instead of fire powers?" Nora had said, surprised to hear this.

"Absolutely." Carol piped, "What do you think?"

"Intriguing..." Nora spoke, "I had delved into priestess training a small bit back in my dimension a bit, but I never had considered taking it as a profession. Something about me being too hot-headed to take it."

"Aaaaah, I see what you did there!" Carol said, giggling a bit.

"...puns were not my intention, but I'll roll with it anyways." Nora answered.

"Anyways, so wh-" Carol started before she was interrupted.

"Hey! Other me!" Cassandra yelled, "What's this red thing you got over here?"

Carol froze up, already worried about what was going to happen.

"H-hey! You be careful with that!" she yelled, running over to her Avalonian counterpart. "My bike is not a toy!"

Cassandra had seen Carol's beloved motorbike and had been looking over it curiously. Of course, Avalon had motorbikes so she wasn't seeing one for the first time but it still fascinated her to see one given she didn't see them very often. She stepped away as Carol ran to her, looking disgruntled.

"Sheesh, no need to get your knickers in a twist. I was only looking at it." the scarred feline muttered.

"Well can ya at least ask first before you do so? My bike's a very delicate guy and I don't like it getting damaged in anyway!" Carol retorted, "Don't they teach manners back on Avalon or something?"

Cassandra had come very close to attacking her Avalician counterpart once again. It had already happened several times this week. There was something about Carol that just wound her up and she wasn't sure why. Once again, she restrained herself. She couldn't give the game away, not now. She would get the chance to smack Carol around eventually. Sighing, she replied with;

"Do forgive me. I...wasn't really raised up that well."

"Eh, neither was I." Carol admitted, "But living with Lilac has taught me to be a little more polite and all that so maybe you can too."

"Speaking of Dragon Girl, how did you two come to meet?" Cassandra asked. It wasn't a random question, the wildcat had genuinely been curious to know. With how she and Lavender had met back home, she was wondering if Lilac and Carol's first meeting had gone any differently.

"Now ain't that a tale worth telling!" the tomboy feline exclaimed brightly, "Me and Lilac used to be members of the Red Scarves, a gang of thieves that like to steal whatever they can and host fighting tournaments for money. I joined shortly after Lilac did and one day during training, I was ambushed by a group of thugs who wanted some money I'd stolen. They trashed my bike and although I fought back, they were too much for me. I was pretty inexperienced back then so I got my ass kicked quite easily then."

"And Lilac saved you from them thugs right?" Cassandra guessed.

"Bingo! She kicked all their butts and sent them packing!" Carol cried, "I was so grateful to her that I swore I'd be her friend for life. And that's how we've ended up where we are now."

"That... not gonna lie, sounds kinda sappy." Cassandra said.

"Well hey, maybe it does, but it's what happened!" Carol responded. "So! How'd you meet your Lilac?"

"...are you sure you want to know?" Cassandra said.

"Aw come on, I'm curious enough!" Carol answered.

"I'm warnin' ya, it's BAD."

"Pffft, please, I nearly got sucked out of a spaceship through an airlock and had to fight my best friend when she was mutated." Carol replied. "I think I can handle this."

Shrugging, the scarred feline decided she may as well answer. Maybe she would get the satisfaction of freaking her sappy Avalician self out and be able to say "I told you so!".

"Well for starters, me and Lavender weren't members of a group called the Red Scarves. I don't think such a group exists on our world." Cassandra explained, "We were both poor kids on the street, scavenging for good and stealing from stores whenever we could. Lavender doesn't really talk about her parents so I don't know how she ended up poor. But me? I was thrown out on the streets like garbage. My parents didn't give a shit about me. They seemed OK with me at first when I was born and that but when I turned four, they just...threw me out on the street and I never saw them again. I never knew why they abandoned me..."

She paused for a moment to collect herself, looking as if about to cry. Carol took this in and shook her head sadly for her Avalonian counterpart. How could any parent be so cruel?! She was lucky her parents hadn't been so callous but she still couldn't help but feel for Cassandra. Just abandoning somebody on the street like that without ever giving a reason? How could anybody do such a thing?!

"Oh my gosh...I'm so sorry to hear that." Carol said softly.

"Save your pity, I don't need any." Cassandra said tersely, not wanting to show weakness to Carol, "Anyway, me and Lavender met when, by coincidence, we both planned to rob the same shop. At first we fought over the loot but then I guess we impressed each other with our fighting moves that we ended up becoming friends. And I'm glad I did meet Lavender. I've been alone for so long that it felt good to have a friend ya know? Great, now I sound sappy..."

Carol smirked. "Y'know? I guess maybe we're not so different after all."

"I guess..." Cassandra shrugged. "I mean, we're both sappy."

"Unintentionally sappy."

"Whatever." Cassandra said, "So, ya got any other cool stuff lying around here?"

"I'm sure we've got something." Carol said brightly, "I'll go into the treehouse to see what there is that might catch your interest."

The feline biker scampered off, but she didn't go into the treehouse like she said. She instead headed towards Lilac, who was still chatting with Lavender. She interrupted the conversation by clearing her throat. Lilac turned to face Carol.

"Yes?" she asked.

"You mind if I talk with you privately for a minute?" Carol questioned.

"OK..." Lilac said, sounding curious, "Can you excuse me a minute Lavender?"

"Go ahead." Lavender said casually, "I'll wait."

The dragon and wildcat headed off behind the treehouse so they could talk privately. Lavender and Cassandra watched them disappear behind the tree and began to feel suspicious. Were the two on to them? They crept towards the treehouse to see if they could eavesdrop on the conversation. They approached the tree and listened as Carol began talking to Lilac in a hushed, whispering voice. That confirmed their suspicions. They clearly didn't want to be overheard, no less by them. The two fascists listened on to see what they could pick up.

"I know Team Lavender seem cool and all Lilac but, I dunno, a week with them hasn't shaken off this nagging feeling in my head that they're...I dunno, kinda sinister?" Carol whispered.

"Is it how they look?" Lilac whispered back, "If so then don't you think that's a little prejudiced? Judging them by their looks and all?"

"It's not just their looks Lilac." Carol hissed, "I mean their attitudes. Cassandra in particular always seems kinda moody and Lavender's story seems kinda fishy when you think about it. If their world is really being oppressed then why run away? I know they said they're laying low for a while but think about it...why come to our world in particular? Could be a coincidence I know but still..."

Lilac turned this over in her head, pondering what Carol had said. She was tempted to say her friend was being paranoid but she remembered what Natalya had pointed out earlier this week. Memphis had deceived the world and had come close to taking it over. They couldn't let their guard down. She nodded.

"Yeah, I understand your concerns Carol." she said at last, "Although they seem nice enough, we shouldn't just welcome them without making perfectly sure they're good guys. The moment they so much as raise a hand to us, we'll send them packing."

"Good thinking!" Carol whispered approvingly.

Unknown to them, Lavender and Cassandra had overheard most of the conversation, enough to understand what was being said and the implications from it. The draconian dictator shook her head grimly.

"They're on to us. They're clearly not as stupid as we thought..." she muttered.

"What do we do now Magister?" Cassandra hissed.

"We wait no more. I think it's time we made our move." Lavender decided.

Cassandra nodded, extending her claws and muttering, "This might get messy."

"NOT by killing them." Lavender growled through clenched teeth, "We need them alive. Aim for unconscious."

Cassandra nodded, moving to the other side of the tree as their counterparts continued their discussion. She would've been happier with killing them but maybe that would come in time...

...their counterparts never saw them coming. In one swift move the two had moved, both immediately striking a chop right to the back of their respective copies back; striking a nerve and causing them to fall unconscious. Lilac's left horn cracked as she hit the ground, Carol piling on top of her...

"Well that's these two." Cassandra said. "What about the dog?"

"Mara will take care of that..." Lavender answered.

* * *

Little Milla had no idea on what had just happened to Lilac and Carol. She had been sitting near another tree nearby and talking with Mara. Out of the two teams, Milla and Mara seemed to have become friends the quickest. They had already come quite close and spent much of the last week playing together. They had even amused one another by showing off their powers and even playing a bit of catch. One would shoot their cube or sphere respectively and the other would fly or run after it to try and catch it before it hit the ground. It had been good fun and the two dogs had enjoyed playing the game.

They had also shared many facts about one another, both showing equal interest in one another. Mara had been particularly fascinated with Milla's life in the wilds before meeting her friends.

"How extraordinary." the princess said, "You managed to live out in the wilds all by yourself without your parents to look after you?"

"I did indeed." Milla said, "I did miss my parents much when I lost them. It wasn't much fun just talking to tree stumps and all that."

"So I imagine you were happy to meet Lilac and Carol." Mara said softly, "They're like sisters to you aren't they?"

"They are and they're the best friends I could ask for!" Milla cried excitedly, "They took very good care of me before we found my parents again and gave me shelter in their treehouse. I love playing with them and helping them save the world!"

"It's sweet to see how close you are." the one-armed hound said kindly, "You're like one big happy family. If only I had a family..." she added gloomily, "...with my parents gone, I've got no other relatives. It's just me now. You're lucky you have your parents still."

"Thank you." the innocent puppy replied, "And don't feel too sad Mara. You've got your friends to look after you!"

"Friends yes, but they're not really "family" to me. Just friends." Mara said, "But enough about me. What else can you do with your cube ability?"

Milla smiled, forming a cube again. "I can actually do a really cool ability known as a Super Shield Burst!" She said, expanding the cube into a massive thick green shield in front of her, away from Mara. "It's REALLY powerful!"

"Do... do you mind if I see it?" Mara asked. "I'm curious..."

"Sure!" Milla said, soon firing off the massive green burst in front of her... while subsequently being blown back into the tree itself, creating a large crack in the bark. "OOOF!"

"O-oh my!" Mara cried, rushing to her counterpart's side. "A-are you okay?"

"I-I'll be fine..." Milla said, getting up. "I just need to work on the knock back issues I have with it, that's all..."

"Nevertheless, that is quite an ability." Mara said, clearly impressed with what her counterpart had shown, "I'd dare even say that it'd be powerful enough to punch Lord Draven across the room if he was in its path!"

"Can you do that too?" Milla asked curiously.

"Not quite." the one-armed dog said grimly, "I haven't practiced that much with my powers really. I'm...not creative when it comes to using them. I just throw them and that's basically it."

Milla nodded understandingly. Sometimes, people who had great powers didn't always have the creativity to use them in the best way possible. The ginger-haired dog patted Mara on the back.

"Well maybe I could teach you!" she suggested, "I could teach you how to do that! Though maybe I should perfect my own first before I pass the skill on."

"You know, with our powers, I wonder if we could do greater things than just make cubes and spheres..." Mara murmured thoughtfully, "Maybe even...create more complex shapes?"

"I once asked mommy and daddy about that before." Milla admitted, "They think it might be possible. If it is, maybe you could...make yourself a new arm?" she suggested thoughtfully.

Mara looked down at the stump of her right arm doubtfully, sighing.

"I doubt it's even remotely possible." she said grimly, "But it's kind of you to think about me like that. You're so nice Milla. I...I feel lucky to see my alternate counterpart's such a nice girl." she added, smiling at her prime-self.

"I honestly feel sorry for you." Milla spoke. "No one should have had to have gone through what you went through..."

Mara said nothing, just hugging her counterpart with her one arm, who returned her hug.

"Sadly, I don't even think our world's yet gotten through making those cyber-whatsits or what they're called." Milla spoke. "It'd be helpful to get you an arm that way but... I don't think they're fully developed yet."

Mara sighed. "I may just go on with this one arm for a while..." she said sadly, hanging her head.

"I'm sure it's not all bad." Milla said softly, hoping that her words would bring some comfort to the poor princess, "You've got your friends Lavender, Cassandra, Mace and Nora and I bet when you get rid of that horrible person who's taken over your world, you'll have a nice home and world to live in again!"

Mara admired her counterpart's determination to make her feel better and how selfless she was being. How could a puppy so young be so sweet and kind? Children were never usually this nice. But at the same time, she knew Milla's words meant nothing to her. All she was doing as making it worse for her, albeit unintentionally. And that was why she finally decided to stop pretending and drop the act. The lies and pretending to be innocent party were too much for her and she couldn't take it anymore. She grabbed Milla by the shoulder, her eyes watery as if she was about to cry.

"Oh Milla, I can't keep lying to you anymore!" she wailed, "It's about time I told you the truth! ALL of it!"

"The truth?" Milla asked curiously, "W-w-what do you m-mean "truth"? What's going on Mara?"

"I'm so, so sorry Milla, I've hated having to keep up this pretence but I refuse to keep it up any longer!" Mara cried, "You know that dictator who's taken over our world? That we didn't lie about, that's true. But the dictator in question is Lavender! She, Cassandra, Mace and Nora aren't good guys in the slightest! Lavender took over our world and runs it through fear and oppression! She wants to take over your world and make it part of our regime! I didn't want to play any part in it but Lavender forced me to do so! I'm so sorry I've had to lie to you this whole time Milla but what I'm saying now is the absolute truth! Your world is in danger the longer we stay here!"

"Wh-wh..." Milla stuttered. "But... but why would you lie to me?"

She was having trouble taking this all in. The whole visit, their reason for being here...all a lie?! Milla began breathing quickly as shock and horror swept over her. She was feeling a little faint. What a horrible turnout this was! Carol had been right to be suspicious earlier this week!

"I didn't have a choice..." Mara said. "Quickly, we must find your friends before Lavender and Cassandra take them out!"

"R-right!" Milla said, taking off.

Many things were running through the dog's head. How could they have been so naïve as to believe these alternate counterparts were what they said they were?! And what would Lilac and Carol think to hearing the truth? They'd probably not be that surprised given Carol had been the one to doubt the Avalonian's credibility in the first place and Natalya had pointed out they couldn't let their guards down to avoid the possibility of another Memphis case happening. Milla could feel the anger burning in her body. None of it was directed at Mara, she wasn't the bad guy here. It was Lavender, Cassandra, Mace and Nora who deserved her anger and she was going to show them what for! They'd be sorry they ever dared to invade Avalice when she was finished with them!

Milla flew towards the treehouse and landed, quickly scampering towards the house on all fours.

"Lilac! Carol! Mara's just told me something you have to hear!" she hollered, "We must stop Lavender and her friends, they're not really good people!"

She then let out a shriek of terror as she saw that she was too late. Lilac and Carol had already been knocked out and were being gathered together by Mace and Nora as Lavender looked over the multi-universal transportation device to make sure it was ready to activate. She saw Milla and smirked a cruel, dirty smirk of mockery.

"Oh I'm sorry little doggie." she sneered, "Your friends had a bad case of "unconscious". We're just taking them home to get better."

"You monster!" Milla cried angrily, summoning a cube to her hands, "You release my friends at once or I'll blast you into the air with my powers!"

"Tempting, but I'd rather you picked on your own counterpart instead of trying to fight me." Lavender scoffed, "Seems only fair doesn't it?"

"WHAT'S FAIR IS YOU RELEASING MY FRIENDS!" Milla roared, a fury never seen from her before as she hurled the cube straight at Lavender's face. The dragon merely smirked, before stepping to the side and then rushing the hound, pinning her to the tree and slapping her hard across the face, drawing blood from her mouth.

"I warned you..." Lavender said darkly, a glint in her eye.

Milla's mood almost immediately shifted to fear.

"A-are you gonna k-kill me?" she whimpered.

"No." Lavender answered. "You're far more useful to us alive..."

The dragon then raised a hand a delivered a powerful chop to Milla's head, knocking her out instantly. The dog crumpled and lay still. Mace wandered over to the puppy and draped her over his shoulder like a used towel. Lavender grinned with pleasure, pleased to see the plan was going swimmingly.

"Time for us to go." she announced, "Mara! Come on, we're leaving!" she barked.

Mara, who had followed Milla and watched helplessly as her Avalician self was knocked out, came over to Lavender. Her face was darker than a thundercloud and her eyes seemed far away. Lavender saw this and shook her head sadly.

"I'd hoped you wouldn't grow an attachment to this world." she muttered, "But don't worry, you'll soon get over it."

"Milla was so nice to me and became a better friend than you ever was..." Mara growled bitterly, "Damn you for making me play a part in this! I doubt she'll ever forgive me for this."

"Oh grow a spine already." Lavender sighed irritably, "Forgiveness is for the weak. You shouldn't give a shit about Milla or our counterparts here. Now shut up and hold onto me. We're leaving."

"And about time too." Cassandra agreed, putting a hand on Lavender's shoulder, "Spending a week on this world is starting to give me a headache!"

"...fine." Mara spoke, anger dripping from her voice as she ripped the device out of Lavender's hands.

"And just what the hell do you think you're doing?" Lavender said, grabbing the basset by her ears and yanking her up. Mara just ignored her and kept typing into the device while the rest of the group quickly grabbed onto the dragon and dog so they wouldn't be left behind. The entire group warped out of Avalice without a trace...

* * *

...and back into the palace in their dimension. Upon arrival, Lavender quickly ran her eyes across the room to make sure they were indeed back in their home dimension. It was her palace, exactly as she'd left it before they'd gone to Avalice. She looked at Mara, surprised she'd done as she'd wanted and not tried to rebel or run off. The royal hound just glared back, no longer hiding her contempt for the draconian dictator.

"That." Mara spat, tossing the device to Lavender's feet. "Now put me down."

Lavender merely dropped the hound, still unsure how to react. Mara scoffed and then stormed off towards the door.

"Do what you want apparently, because all my words do is fall on deaf ears!" The Avalonian growled, slamming the door behind her.

Everybody had been so taken-aback by this that they fell silent for a long moment. They had never expected the princess to react like this, not in a lifetime. They all looked at one another, unsure how to take this.

"The hell's gotten into her?" Lavender said at last.

"Who gives a shit?" Cassandra said dismissively, "It's not like she has any power to run the place anyways. Just let the brat have her little tantrum, she's not worth fussing about!"

Lavender sighed. She was starting to have enough of trying to talk sense into her friend. What did she have to do to make Mara see things her way?!

"I'll talk some sense into her later." she growled, "Mace, Nora, get these runts to their cells."

The panda siblings obeyed, grabbing the Avalicians and carrying them out of the room. Now they were out of the way, the next stage of the plan could begin. Lavender's regime was about to get bigger and more powerful than ever before...

* * *

Lilac began to groan sleepily. The first thing she became aware of was a slight pounding in her head. Somebody had clearly hit her very hard. Her eyes opened and she raised her head to see where she was. She gasped. The dragon was no longer in Dragon Valley outside of her treehouse. She was instead, in some kind of cell. It was rather spacious for a cell but that didn't make it any less enclosing. There was a glass door with three solid metal walls and Lilac was quick to notice that she'd woken up standing. How was that possible? She quickly found out.

She could see that she was firmly fastened to a thick, solid metal X with five clamps, two for her hands, two for her feet and one around her waist. The clamps were solid and thick, clearly designed to hold even the strongest of prisoners. Lilac also noticed something else. Was it her imagination or was there something on her chest? She looked down and noticed a trio of wires snaking up from the waist clamp and to her chest. They were strategically placed too, as if they were expertly applied by a doctor or someone with medical knowledge. Were they monitoring her heartbeat? If so, what for? No doubt so her captor would know if she was alive perhaps. Lilac began tugging on her limbs, trying to wriggle them free.

"Don't know how I got here but this cell ain't gonna hold ME for long!" she snarled, "Whoever did this is so gonna pay!"

"Lucky for you, you don't have to wait long to find out."

The voice had come out of nowhere, making Lilac gasp. Who said that? She looked ahead and saw Lavender the Dragon standing outside the cell. She keyed in the code to open it up and walked inside, approaching Lilac with a sly, confident smile on her face. Lilac scowled angrily, her teeth clenched so hard they almost cracked.

"Carol was right to be suspicious." the dragon snarled, her tone matter-of-fact, "Looks like you ARE the evil counterparts after all!"

"If you wanna put it that way, yes." Lavender said snidely, "Anyway, welcome to Avalon. I do hope you enjoy your stay. You are gonna be here for a very long time Lilac..."

* * *

 _ **Well this ain't good! Team Lilac are prisoners of Team Lavender! And their friends back home will have no way of knowing! But that doesn't mean it's all over yet. They might be able to escape and get back home before it's too late...**_

 _ **Tune in next time to see how Team Lilac will get outta this mess!**_


End file.
